Another year
by I'm.a.bounty.hunter
Summary: Emily transfers to a new school for her senior year, she meets a lot of new people. But the one she person that really intrigues her keeps disappearing. This is my first story. I do not own Criminal Minds i'm just borrowing their characters
1. Chapter 1

Another year, another school, another country even, none of these were new concepts to the brunette girl walking through the school grounds. With her head buried in the school brochure she only noticed the girl hurtling after a soccer ball towards her in time to catch the girl and prevent them both from falling to the floor, she did notice though, the smell of strawberries coming from the girl's hair and the way the firm athletic body fit perfectly against her own.

"Whoa, sorry about that," the girl said as she took a step back.

"No problem." The brunette said, noticing the way the other girl's entire demeanour seemed to change right in front of her, her musings were interrupted by a boy who had run over from the other side of the quad apologising for kicking the ball in her direction. "I'm Derek by the way," he said flirting with the beautiful dark haired girl he was sure he had never seen around the school before.

Tearing her eyes away from the intriguing blonde girl she had collided with, she turned towards Derek "I'm Emily, don't worry about it." She smirked teasingly at the boy obviously flirting with her.

Handing back the papers Emily had dropped during the collision the girl began to tap the ball between her feet and move back towards the quad with Derek trailing after her, "Nice save by the way," the girl shot over her shoulder.

Emily continued on her way towards the dorm with the girl's scent and eyes seared into her brain. As she walked into her new room she noticed that her new roommate had obviously already arrived since one of the beds had had an array of colourful bags and computer equipment covering it, Emily hoped that she and the unknown girl would find something in common, since she seemed to be interested in IT whereas Emily was quite athletic. Emily dropped the papers she had been given on arrival as well as the small bag she was carrying onto the bed before heading back to her car for the rest of her stuff.

Walking past the quad she noticed the Derek and the girl still kicking the ball between themselves, however on her way back the girl had disappeared and Derek was headed toward the boys dorms, until he noticed her laden with bags he turned to help.

"So why are you on your own, normally the kid's here are surrounded by weeping mothers and father's exerting their dominance." Derek asked as they continued walking

"I could ask you the same thing," Emily jibed at the boy. "But really they're pretty busy; it's usually easier if I do this stuff myself without bothering them anyway."

"Good point, but I got dropped off pretty early since we live in Chicago and my mom left my sister's with my aunt for the night to bring me and it's a long drive so I told her to go." Derek shrugged and they carried on walking. "You got any siblings?" he asked after a moment.

"Uh, no it's just me. You play any sports besides kicking balls at strangers?" Emily asked nudging Derek's shoulder and hoping to change the subject.

At this Derek grinned, "Hell yeah, this fine man is the captain of the football team and part of the karate team here." Emily laughed as Derek puffed up his chest, clearly proud of himself. "What about you? Theatre geek? Debating? Maybe the chess team?" Derek grinned cheekily.

"Ha-ha, you're zero for three football star. Try fencing, the swim team and even show choir on occasion."

"Fencing, really? That, I would have never guessed."

"Yeah, I've been doing since I was about 10, it's quite fun actually if you have a good opponent." Emily said, defending her choices as if expecting to be ridiculed.

"That's cool, it's just an unusual sport I've never actually met anyone who does it." Derek was quick to explain.

"Oh. Ok well the school actually has a decent team, you should come watch one day if I make the team." Emily suggested, a hint of insecurity finding its way into her voice.

"Yeah OK, how about I come to one of your fencing...uh matches? Sorry I'm not sure what they're called and you come to one of my games." Derek offered.

"Cool," as Emily turned to walk into her room Derek stopped at the door.

"Why are you standing outside?" Emily asked, her features displaying her confusion as she turned and noticed him stopped in the doorway.

"I've got four sisters," he said,"I learnt a long time ago to never walk into a girl's room uninvited."

"Oh right, well you can come in and just drop that stuff on the floor, thanks again by the way." Emily began rummaging through her things but looked up flabbergasted when a blonde girl, very different from the one she'd seen earlier materialised into the room wearing more colours in one outfit then Emily imagined she had in an entire wardrobe.

"My chocolate god... What are you doing looking all fine in my room?" The new girl exclaimed before she noticed Emily frozen next to her bed. Running across the room she wrapped the brunette in her arms squealing "Ooh... you must be Emily, I've been waiting for you to appear, and I'm your roommate, Garcia."

"Uh, hi... Yeah I'm Emily although I'm not sure how you already knew that. It's uh... nice to meet you Garcia."

At this Derek began to chuckle, turning toward Emily he said "She's not as scary as she seems, just... enthusiastic, and she knows everything. And to answer you baby girl, I was helping out our new friend here, you know chivalry will never die while I'm around." he winked at her.

Emily watched the exchange between the two, as they continued to flirt and tease each other. Emily's mind drifted back to the other girl she had seen with Derek earlier, to the way her eyes seemed to blaze a hole through her and wondered where she had gone after she left the quad earlier.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys. So I'm new to this whole writing thing and hope you'll bare with me. I have no idea where I'm going with this story and it isn't being beta'd so let me know if I'm doing something wrong or if you want something to change. Also the updates might be a bit erratic for the next 3 weeks since I'm writing exams. Anyway I hope you enjoy the story.**

**And thanks to everybody who commented on or alerted my story, it was really awesome!**

Since it was the first night back for everybody in the dorms and nobody had classes yet the school organised for everybody to get together in the rec room of one of the boys' dorms since it was the biggest, friends who had not seen each other over the holidays stood in groups describing the things they had done, and the things they wanted to do during the year, a group of boys threw a football across the room, while a group of freshman set up a monopoly board in the corner of the room.

Emily walked in following Garcia and Derek, and as soon as they walked through the door a football came sailing towards them while the group of boys all shouted "MORGAN!" however since he was distracted by the constant flirting with Garcia the ball flew past his head and straight at Emily who managed to catch it. "Nice catch girl," Derek said as Emily threw the ball to one of the boys standing nearby.

Emily grinned,"who's Morgan," she asked puzzled since nobody else had walked in with them.

"That's me, Derek Morgan, most people just call me Morgan though."

"Oh ok," Emily shrugged and as Derek began to greet his friends Emily snuck around to grab a drink off the table when someone came up behind her, "those are some reflexes you've got there Emily."

The smell of strawberries once again took over her senses making it hard to speak, "Thanks," she managed to get out after clearing her throat. "But you have me at a disadvantage."

"How so?" The blonde girl smirked.

"I don't know your name." Emily said, looking straight into the blondes eyes.

"This is true," she replied before wandering back into the crowd without ever looking back.

Growing more and more intrigued with the girl she had just watched walk away from her and even out of the door, away from the party, Emily wondered what it was that caused the girl to walk up to her in the first place and then disappear again. She picked up a bottle of water and hesitated before walking back towards Derek and Penelope who were now standing with a group of people, until Garcia turned and waved her over.

Emily spent the next few hours meeting a lot of people, most of whom played sport with Derek who she had now begun to call Morgan, some who were already on the swim team and curious about whether she would be trying out for their team. She spent a long time talking to a young boy named Spencer Reid whom she learned, despite his age, was in also senior year, they discussed many random topics which most people knew nothing about and even played a game of chess which Emily lost rather dismally.

So after saying goodnight to the people remaining in the rec centre Emily walked with Garcia back to their dorm, hoping to get enough sleep to be able to function for her first day tomorrow.

"So tell me something." Garcia said after they had been walking in silence for a while.

"I thought you already knew everything..." Emily said teasingly.

Garcia laughed, "No not everything, I just got the basics. Picture, name, DOB, family none of the really interesting things about people."

"Uh that's a lot actually, some of it I'd rather not talk about, but if you asked a question I'd probably answer unless I thought it was too private." Emily became slightly more guarded as her family was mentioned and hoped Garcia would ask about something else.

"Ok then, how about if we took turns. Like where do you live when you don't live here?"

"A lot of places actually, but at the moment my parents live in Italy. Do you have any siblings?"

"That's cool, and no I'm an only child just like you. Why didn't you go to Italy?"

Emily tensed at the question trying to think of an answer that was true but not the real truth, "It just made more sense since it's my senior year to stay in the States, you know since I want to go to college her next year." She glanced at Garcia, but noticed her looking forward shaking her head. When Emily turned her head, she noticed the same blonde from earlier was jogging around the school and probably had been for some time.

"Who is she?" Emily asked as she noticed Garcia seemed upset and had stopped walking, while the blonde, who had seen them walking, had changed direction.

Garcia swiped a hand across her face, "Her name is JJ, the rest you'll have to find out from her, but don't get your hopes up."

"Um...ok," Emily replied unsure if Garcia was angry or upset she kept quiet and continued walking towards their room.

**Senior year is the last year of high school right? It's not called that where I'm from so please let me know if I got it wrong.**


	3. Chapter 3

**So apparently studying is not conducive to story writing so this took longer than expected, but I hope you like this chapter in spite of that.**

**Thank you to everybody who reviewed and especially secrettrip13 for answering my very random questions.**

**I don't own Criminal Minds, I just like borrow the characters. This story is unbeta'd so any mistakes are my own.**

Waking up the next morning Emily began what this year would really be like now that she had met a few of the people she would be spending it with. That day she planned on signing up for the swimming and fencing teams. She had learned yesterday that the swimming team was coached by Mr Hotchner and that he was also one of the football coaches. According to Morgan, who had become her unofficial guide, everybody called him Hotch and he was a good guy but very serious. Emily only hoped that he would put her on the team, swimming had become her escape from the world while she was growing up and in all of the fancy houses and exotic countries she had lived in, the first thing she had looked for was the swimming pool because in the water, nobody bothered or criticised her, she knew exactly what she was doing.

As she sat up she noticed that Garcia had already left so after checking that she wasn't late she went about getting ready and gathering all of the things she would need and walked towards the cafeteria. Once inside she saw Garcia sitting with the blonde she now knew to be JJ and a few tables over was Morgan with a few of the people she had met the night before so she walked toward that table waving to Garcia as she walked past.

Breakfast was uneventful with the group discussing their classes and comparing schedules, so when Emily walked into her first class she already knew she would be sharing it with Morgan and Reid, it was her third class of the day, AP English, which Emily was dreading because she wouldn't know anybody so she got there early and chose a random seat in the middle hoping to meet a few people before the class started. What she did not expect, was for JJ to walk in and sit in the seat behind the girl sitting next to Emily rambling about To Kill A Mockingbird, most of the class greeted her as she walked past, but other than saying hello she didn't stop to talk to anyone. The class seemed to go on forever and although Emily could see JJ was looking forward listening intently to the teacher she felt as though JJ eyes were piecing through her as the room seemed to get warmer. But as the class ended and everybody dashed out of the door for lunch Emily noticed that JJ packed her things slowly walking out of the class after everybody else without having said a word to anybody and Emily began to wonder why the people she had seen her interact with were Morgan and Garcia.

That afternoon, Emily walked back to her room; she had made it onto the schools fencing team and talked to Hotch about joining the swim team in the spring. She found Garcia and JJ sitting on Garcia's bed.

"Hey guys," she said.

"Hi," JJ said before looking down at the book in her lap. "Em! How did it go?" Garcia exclaimed, tossing her own book onto the bed as her arms waved.

"It was good Garcia, I made the team and Hotch said to go talk to him when the swimming season started. I'm gonna go jump in the shower quickly, do you want to go for dinner after?"

"Sounds good, we'll be here when you're done." With that Emily headed towards the showers.

Heading towards the cafeteria, Emily was surprised that JJ had decided to go with them, what didn't surprise her was the fact that she hadn't said anything since Emily returned from the bathroom. Garcia and Emily chatted during dinner but, while JJ was obviously listening she only spoke when she was asked a question.

When Garcia went off to get dessert, Emily and JJ were left alone Emily pushed the remnants of her dinner around the plate until she heard JJ clear her throat, "So the fencing team, that must be where the quick reflexes come from. It's an odd choice of sport though."

Emily smiled wryly, "It was my mother's idea, as are most things, but I grew to enjoy it."

"Interesting," She smiled, "can you tell Garcia I said goodnight." She said standing up and taking all three of the girl's dishes with her.

"Yeah, tha...," Emily began to say before she realised JJ was already walking away.

When Garcia returned she was carrying four different desserts. "Good Lord, where do you plan to put all of that food?" Emily asked, a little astonished by the amount of food the small girl was able to eat.

"You don't get a curvy figure such as this eating leaves and berries Em, besides I couldn't decide which one I wanted so I took one of each. You gonna help me or just watch." She asked as she stuck one of the spoons she was carrying into the chocolate cake.

"I think I'll help," Emily grinned as she took a spoonful out of the jelly and custard bowl. "Oh yeah JJ said to tell you goodnight."

"Thanks," Garcia said, "now tell me something I don't already know."

"Um... I think that you are completely insane." Emily laughed as Garcia pouted with chocolate cake smeared on the side of her mouth.

"Nope, doesn't count most people think that. I meant something about you."

"I don't know, what is it you want to know?" Emily asked cautiously.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Garcia waggled her eyebrows.

"Nope, no boyfriend."

"Girlfriend?"

"Nope." Emily grinned at this, "You offering?"

Garcia laughed "Nope, sorry Princess my tastes are more ruggedly inclined."

"You mean Morgan. And just who are you calling Princess."

"He doesn't see me that way; he's got half the girls at this school fawning over him and I'm just the best friend." Garcia smiled ruefully, "But it's ok really. I know him better than anyone of those girls and he always comes back to me when he gets bored of them. You're Princess everybody gets a nickname, get over it."

"Uh huh, so what do you call everyone else?" Emily became curious to learn what Garcia thought about everyone.

"Well Morgan is my chocolate god of course, Reid is the boy genius, you remember the girl flirting with Morgan last night?" at Emily's nod she continued, "Her name's Jordan but I call her the substitute because she comes and goes, and JJ is my girl." Garcia said, "There are a few others but most of the time I say the first thing that comes to mind. It's only the people I'm close to that get real nicknames."

Emily blushed slightly at being considered a close anything to her quirky roommate, "Thanks Garcia."

**Ok, so the next chapter is going to jump forward about a month because otherwise it'll take too long to get anywhere interesting and JJ will finally do something besides appear and disappear. Let me know what you think.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm so sorry. Turns out the updates weren't erratic but non-existent. But I finished exams yesterday and will be spending the next three awesome months on holiday in the sun! Hopefully that will encourage me to write more often. Hope you enjoy, this is more of a filler but I'll be posting again soon. Enjoy!**

**Totally unbeta'd**

About a month later, Emily had gotten into her routine of early morning swimming and afternoon fencing so she would be ready for the season; it also helped clear her mind since she found that JJ's face floated through her mind quite often. She often spent time with a large group of seniors although she spent most of it with Morgan and Garcia.

Waking up on the morning of her 18th birthday Emily found that her room had been covered in balloons and streamers and when she looked over to Garcia's bed she found the crazy blonde with a party hat on her head and Morgan sitting next to her, the two were watching her as if they had been waiting for her to wake up so that they could pounce, which they did. The two landed on top of her singing Happy Birthday very off key and trying to wrap her in more streamers of various colours.

"What the hell are you two doing! Get off me," she yelled trying to fight them off.

The two laughed as they tried to avoid Emily's swinging arms, "It's your birthday!" Garcia yelled, "We are celebrating silly girl." Garcia stated as she attempted to attach a party hat to Emily's head which Emily was valiantly fighting against.

JJ walked in to find Garcia on top of Emily doing something to her head while Morgan rolled onto the floor after a particularly violent kick from Emily, "Uh... Hi," she spoke standing awkwardly in the doorway.

"Jay! Come help!" Garcia called over her shoulder as she managed to get the string from the hat around Emily's head.

"Uh... What is that you're doing exactly?" JJ asked cautiously.

"It's Em's birthday, and even if she'd like to ignore I plan to ensure that everyone knows and that it's epic!" Garcia was speaking to JJ but watching Emily to make sure she was listening and didn't try to escape.

"Ok, well I was going to go to breakfast, anyone interested?" JJ asked, she could see Emily trying to escape from under the blonde the blur and thought she should try helping out the girl she hadn't exactly been very friendly to thus far.

"YES! Me, I'm starving." Came the muffled call from the bed.

"Fine," Garcia pouted climbing off the bed, "But we are not finished."

JJ's eyes travelled from the smirk on Emily's face, which had formed in response to Garcia's warning, to the strip of skin visible across Emily's stomach and the long pale legs which were exposed as a result of the recent wrestling match which had just occurred.

_Stop it JJ. _

"Come on lets go before all the good food is gone," Emily said after walking back into the room from the bathrooms. The foursome walked across the grass with Garcia still sporting the hat and telling anyone they passed that it was Emily's birthday in between singing Happy Birthday over and over again while Morgan laughed hysterically and Emily tried her best to hide her face which had turned a vicious shade of red.

Later that day, Emily had been swimming trying to relax after spending the day being tormented by Garcia about why she wasn't excited enough or why she hadn't told anybody. Emily considered her birthday to be like any other day of the year because that was how it had always been treated by her parents, Garcia's constant attention was completely unfamiliar.

Emily heard her phone begin to ring with a song that was not heard very often, her mother was phoning. Grabbing her stuff and answering the phone Emily made her way outside hoping to find more privacy than that afforded by the school gym.

"Mother," she answered, surprise lacing the edge of the word.

"Hold on darling," Emily heard her mother's secretary say before the call was put through to her mother's office.

"Emily, is that you?" Elizabeth asked when the light on her office phone began to blink.

"Yes, mother. How are you doing?" Emily asked, the formal manners inherent within her coming to the fore.

"I'm doing well. Your father and I will be attending a dinner with all of the EU Ministers this evening, in the hopes of containing the current debt crisis."

"I hope it goes well," Emily replied and began to wonder what the real reason for the phone call was. Walking across one of the lawns she noticed JJ lying under a tree, earphones in her ears.

"Yes, me too. Anyway I was calling to tell you that I will be in the States for a week next month and hoped you would join me for the Ambassador's Dinner." Elizabeth said sounding preoccupied.

"When is the dinner mother? You will need to notify the school." Emily pinched the bridge of her nose, trying not to react to her mother ignoring her birthday. She looked toward JJ and felt herself calm just seeing the peaceful look on her face. When JJ turned her head, she looked straight into Emily's eyes.

"Yes Mother. Ok I will see you then." Emily said walking towards JJ.

"Oh and Happy Birthday dear, I'll see you next month." Elizabeth hung up the phone as her daughter stared at it as though it had electrocuted her.

She looked up again when she heard JJ's voice. "Everything ok?" and realised she was standing right next to her.

**Ok I know nothing actually happened but it'll be up soon, just thought I'd post something since it's been so long.**


	5. Chapter 5

As always characters do not belong to me and the story is unbeta'd

Emily looked down to the blonde, "It's the same, I don't know that I would call it ok though." Emily grimaced and moved to sit next to JJ.

"Yeah? How's your birthday so far."

"I dunno, I never really did the whole birthday thing, and Garcia can be a little overwhelming with all her good intentions." Emily smiled.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, she's a good person to have on your side though." JJ said.

"That's true." Emily looked into JJ eyes, but they were unfocused as if she were looking at something other than what lay in front of her. "Can I ask you something?" Emily asked cautiously.

This caused JJ to look at her, refocusing on the things around her. "As long as I'm allowed to not answer if it's too personal." JJ replied nervously.

"Why do you... uh, why do you avoid everyone so much, I mean it's just that, well, they all seem to care." Emily closed her eyes, wishing she could take back what she said, "I just, it's none of my business, nevermind."

"No wait," JJ said grabbing Emily's arm before she stood up, "I understand... It's just not something that's easy to talk about and because most of them know part of it I avoid them so that I don't have to, and I avoided you so that maybe you won't ever know, and maybe you won't start to look at me the way that everybody else does, because you're the only person here who doesn't look at me that way." JJ was looking down at her lap, unable to look Emily in the face. "Garcia, she knows the whole the story... because well she is Garcia, she's a good person to have on your side and I needed someone."

"I understand, well I understand what it feels like to need someone, anyone, to just know even if they can't really understand." Emily tried to catch JJ's eye, "I'm glad that you have someone like that."

"Yeah, so tell me something about yourself Emily the strange." JJ laughed.

"Well now that doesn't seem fair, me spilling all my secrets while you get to maintain you mystery." Emily winked at JJ.

"I suppose you're right, what would you suggest." JJ grinned.

"Ok, if you promise to come to my fencing tournament this weekend I will answer ... five questions."

"Hmm ok, can I ask one of my questions now?"

"That seems alright, but you better choose carefully."

"Why, after all this time and the way I've basically ignored you, do you still care enough to even approach me?" JJ asked, genuinely curious as to why the girl who seemed to get along with everybody and could interact with anybody was still wasting time with her.

"Because I see you watching me sometimes when you think nobody is looking, and I wish you wouldn't look away when you think you're about to be caught." At this Emily stood up and left JJ lying under the tree, her expression somewhere between stunned and embarrassed.

**Ok I know it's really short but it feels like it's taking me forever to write, there should be more by tomorrow though. Hope you enjoyed. And press the little bubble, let me know what you think!**


	6. Chapter 6

**As always I do not own Criminal Minds. I've also only ever competed in one fencing tournament so I apologise if I got anything wrong. Enjoy! **

On the days between their conversation and the tournament, JJ spent most of her time thinking about what Emily had said to her and what she really wanted to know about her. She found that she spent more time thinking about Emily than doing anything else and hadn't yet worked out if that was a good or bad thing. Thinking about Emily meant she wasn't thinking about the past, but it had also caused her to get in trouble with a few of her teachers and even her soccer coach.

Emily found she had the same problem, she was nervous about what the blonde would ask her because there were some things she just wasn't ready to tell. She spent hours swimming up and down the length of the school pool, and like her up and down motion her thoughts seemed to go back and forth. The one thing she was certain of was that she wanted to learn as much as she could about the whose eyes still seemed to burn into her which s how Emily knew she was watching and whose shampoo she still remember from the time they had collided. Emily found that although she was apprehensive about the things JJ might ask she wouldn't miss the chance to spend time with her.

When she woke up on Saturday morning, Emily felt the butterflies raging her stomach because today would be her first fencing tournament for the school, her first when someone actually came to watch and then there was the fact that that person was JJ, and JJ had questions...

As she moved the familiar ritual of ensuring that all of her equipment was packed and that all of the wires were in good condition, she started to calm as the motions she had been accustomed to since being small filtered everything else out of her mind. She was good at this, she had been doing it her whole life and she would not lose, if being a Prentiss had taught her anything it was that. And as she walked into the school gym standing on the edge watching the officials set up the separate areas and connecting all of the electronics and planning the order of events, Emily felt at home.

As she walked out of the change room and toward the area where the team was gathering she noticed JJ, sitting on the side, her earphones in her ears and her eyes closed. She dropped her bag and listened to the coach talk through the order they would compete in and general regulations for the kids who had never competed. After finding out which group she was in and when and where she had to be ready she made her way over to the unmoving blonde.

"You came." She said quietly, hoping not to startle JJ.

"I said that I would be here didn't I?" JJ said as though everyone who ever promised to be somewhere arrived.

"Yeah, I guess you did..."

"So are you going to tell me how this sport works or am I just going to watch get beat all day?" JJ laughed at the scowl on Emily's face.

"I'll have you know I do not 'get beat' very often," Emily nudged JJ once she had sat down, "And if you'd really like to know I wouldn't mind explaining."

"Ok then, teach me. I've been at this school for two years and I've never once watched a fencing match."

"Ok well in general you fight for the first to three points. The two events I compete in are Epee and Foil, for Epee you can hit anywhere on the body with the tip of the sword and for foil you can hit on the head on the lame which is like a sleeveless metal jacket that goes over your uniform and you can also slash your opponent, which really hurts when your not wearing proper clothing by the way. You only score a point if it's your advantage, if it's your opponent's advantage and you hit them it becomes your advantage."

"Wow, sounds pretty complex. I'm glad soccer isn't so complicated."

"How long have you been playing for?" Emily asked.

"As long as I can remember, started in the back yard playing with my dad and my sister. I spent hours kicking soccer balls around, I joined the team at school the first chance I got even though there weren't a lot of girls interested in playing. I got offered a scholarship the end of my freshman year and so here I am, I get to do something I love everyday on one of the best teams in the state." JJ looked up at Emily, "Sorry, that's probably more information than you were expecting." JJ blushed slightly, looking down away from the girl next to her.

"No problem..." "Ladies Epee please assemble at your designated mat. We will begin shortly." "Sorry I gotta go get my stuff, I'm on the mat on the other side if you wanna come watch."

"Lead the way." JJ said, standing up immediately after Emily did.

JJ spent the afternoon watching as Emily made it from one round to the next, losing only a few points along the way. She now understood where Emily's quick reflexes originated and marvelled at how she was able to move in order to avoid being hit. Emily always came to sit next to her in between rounds making sure she wasn't bored or left sitting alone.

After an intense final round Emily ended up second having lost by three points. She was disappointed for a moment, but when she looked up and for the first time in her life saw somebody besides her teammates cheering for her it didn't seem so bad. JJ wasn't standing and clapping obnoxiously like some of the people but she winked at Emily when she looked over and somehow that was better than the clapping and cheering. She rushed through her shower and changed into the comfortable, but still flattering, jeans and the blood red shirt she had packed before heading back to where JJ was waiting, fiddling with the foil Emily had left on top of her bag.

"Ready to go?" she asked once she had stopped outside the range of the swinging weapon.

"What?" JJ looked up startled to find Emily back from the bathroom already, "Oh yeah, so where do you wanna go?"

"Well I've never actually been around the town, so why don't you decide."

"Ok. But we'll have to drive, they have the best Chinese in this place but it's on the other side of town and we might not have enough time if we walk."

"No problem, we'll have to detour past my room to drop my bag off and grab my keys." Emily said picking her bag up after packing away the foil JJ had been swinging.

"So can I ask my second question yet?" JJ asked laughing when Emily stumbled.

"Go ahead." Emily said swallowing hard.

**So tell me what you think...Please?**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey, so life is still a little chaotic but I'm updating as often as possible and I hope you are all still enjoying the story.**

**As always I do not own Criminal Minds. And the story remains unbeta'd. Enjoy! ( I know this chapter is a little short, but it seemed like a good place to end it)**

"Ok, why did you leave wherever you were before to come here for one year? I mean most people would hate to transfer for senior year?" JJ noticed the way that Emily's eyes had closed for just a second too long when she heard the question, it surprised her because she had asked this first hoping to make the brunette feel more comfortable and less like she was being interrogated.

"Well, you know that my mom is an ambassador so we moved around a lot since I was young, mostly around Europe. She got transferred to Italy in July last year, but it is only meant to a short posting so we would have to move again. We moved to Italy the first time when I was about 13, still trying to figure out who I was." Emily winced, and JJ wished she could take the question back, so that Emily wouldn't have had to think about it, "Things... happened which make that part of my life difficult to think about and so when my mother told me of the move I knew that I couldn't go back instead I asked that I be allowed to finish school here in the states, which would also make it easier in terms of applying for colleges next year."

They had reached Emily's room and she quickly went inside to drop off her stuff and grab the keys. As the two headed towards the parking area neither of them spoke, JJ wondered about what could have happened during Emily's time in Italy that caused her to not want to return and Emily hoped that JJ would be satisfied by the answer she had given and not push for the details she was not ready to share.

The two girls reached the parking area still walking silently side by side, when JJ saw the lights of dark blue hatchback flashing as Emily unlocked the doors. Once inside Emily turned the key in the ignition she blushed slightly as Stevie Nicks' voice filtered through the sound system.

_Can the child within my heart rise above?  
>And can I sail through the changing ocean tides<br>Can I handle the seasons of my life?_

"Hmm, sorry, you can pick another CD out of the glove box." Emily said.

"I'm good." JJ answered smiling at Emily's embarrassment.

"So where are we headed." Emily asked as she steered the car out of the parking lot.

"Turn left, and then go right at the first robot." JJ said, glad that they were talking about more mundane things. "So what other music do you listen do?" JJ asked.

"Is that your next question?"

"Nope, just making conversation." JJ grinned.

"Ok, well my taste is fairly erratic; I guess it's a result of the various cultures I've been exposed to. I listen to almost anything ranging from Eminem to Gregorian chants, except house music, I can't stand house music. What about you?"

"I listen to lots of things, Gregorian chants are a little too out there though; The Kooks, Sum 41 even Fleetwood Mac, it depends on the day I guess." JJ had opened the glove box and started flipping through Emily's massive CD collection. "Oh turn left here and then you can park as soon as you find a spot."

The two girls got out of the car and JJ led Emily through the front door of a rather dingy looking bar. "Um JJ, what are we doing here?" she asked uncertainly, looking around at the other occupants of the bar until she caught sight of the bartender who was watching them from behind the beer taps.

"Well, look at these pretty things gracing the doorway of my humble establishment." The man behind the bar shouted causing a few of the other patrons to look towards them as he began walking towards them, wiping his hands on the cloth attached to his belt.

"JJ... what..." Emily started before the blonde was lifted off the ground by the rather imposing man now stood in front of her.

**Let me know what you think! Please! It definitely helps with the motivation ;)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry these are coming up slower than I expected, there seems to be a lot going on at the moment but I am trying.**

**As always I do not own Criminal Minds, and the story is unbeta'd but I do hope that you will enjoy it and let me know what you think**

**By the way in the last chapter I mentioned a robot, apparently they are called traffic lights in a lot of countries so I just wanted to clear that up, I was not talking about an actual robot! ;)**

"Max put me down!" JJ laughed, Emily snapped her head around at the noise because it was not heard very often and she did not understand how this man had managed to cause it.

As JJ landed back on the floor she turned to face Emily, "Max this is Emily Prentiss, she started at Alderbrook this year. Emily this is Max, he owns the bar and takes great joy in harassing the patrons."

"Only my favourites," Max says shaking Emily's hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Prentiss."

"It's just Emily, and it's nice to meet you to Sir." Emily replied, her manners returning to the forefront as she found herself in an unfamiliar environment.

"You'll find no sirs in these parts; you can just call me Max."

"Ok Max."

"You got a table for us Max?" JJ asked sensing Emily no longer knew what to say.

"I've always got space for you JJ, your table in the back is vacant as a matter of fact." Max pointed out, while handing a menu to Emily, "In the mean time, Emily, what can I get you to drink?"

"Just a coke thanks," Emily replied confused as to why Max walked away without offering JJ a menu or a drink.

"Come on," JJ interrupted her thoughts, "our table's this way."

As the girls sat down in the corner table Emily broke the silence, "So... do you come here often?" she asked cringing at the way her questioned echoed the cheesy pick up line, especially considering the thoughts she had really been having about the girl sitting across from her.

JJ snorted, "I used to yes, all the time, but I haven't been back in a while, not since the start of the semester at least."

"Why not?" Emily asked curiously.

"At first this was the place I came to escape, a lot of things happened last year and I couldn't always deal with it so I ran and this is where I ended up most of the time. The first time, I was looking for something to help me forget but Max took one look at me and refused. Instead he gave me the most amazing burger that I have ever tasted in my life, I sat at this table, my brain just wouldn't shut off and eventually he drove me back to campus. This became the place I ran to whenever I needed a break or a place to hide."

"Will you ever tell me what happened?" Emily asked.

JJ looked straight into her eyes and responded, "Will you?"

"So what can I get you ladies for dinner," Max asked, having appeared at the end of their table.

"We'll have two of your best burgers please Max." Emily answered smirking at the look on JJ face.

"Coming up," Max laughed at JJ's reaction to Emily's reply.

"Isn't that what you usually have," Emily asked as she looked at JJ and continued to smirk at the gobsmacked look on her face.

"Uh... yeah it is, but I only mentioned having it once how did you know that I always order that?" JJ blinked rapidly hoping some new information would appear before her eyes.

"I'm just cool like that I guess." Emily laughed.

"If you say so," JJ responded sceptically, "Ok, time for question number three." She continued and began to rub her hands together menacingly.

"Ok," Emily responded becoming nervous again.

"Tell me about the places you grew up, where you've lived, when you lived there and the languages you speak."

"That's a lot of questions all squashed into one?" Emily raised her eyebrow.

"No it isn't, it's a brief history of you."

"Ok well when I was born we lived in Paris, although I was born at the embassy which is technically American soil, there I only learnt to speak English and a few French words. When I was three we moved to Egypt where we lived for two years and where I learnt to speak Arabic. After that we spent a few months in Washington before we moved back to France which is when I learnt French we stayed there until I was thirteen, after France we went to Italy for three years, one year in Russia and then I came here. So I speak fluent French, Arabic and Italian but only a little Russian." Emily briefly summarised her travels across the world and hoped that her final sentence did not sound as though she were trying to show off.

"Wow, and I thought I was good knowing all the swear words in French and German." JJ laughed, realising Emily had become more self conscious during her explanation.

"Haha, well those are the first words I learnt in Italian and Russian as well."

Max came over with their burgers and a heaping pile of chips for each of them. Both girls dug into their food immediately and Emily moaned after taking the first bite of her burger. JJ had been right, this was the best hamburger she had ever eaten in her life and she had tried them in all of the different places she lived, craving that small reminder of home.

The two continued to talk over dinner, discussing the sports they had played and even found out that they had both starred as Dorothy in their respective school's productions of the Wizard of Oz. Learnt that they were both fans of the adapted version Wicked and even listened to a lot of the same music. At the same time they learnt of the things that they did not agree on, such as which was the better film; Footloose (the original) or Domino and who was the more irritating between Edward Cullen and Jacob Black.

And after carefully going through all of the negative characteristics of the two fictional characters, and laughing so hard it caused Emily to snort Coke through her nose and JJ to send a salt shaker flying off the table and shattering against the floor the two left the bar and headed back towards Emily's car.

"Can I drive," JJ asked, "I want to show you something before we go back."

"Yeah ok, just... um... be careful with my baby." Emily replied cautiously.

They drove in silence, JJ concentrating on where they were going and the next question she wanted to ask, because it would result in either the opening or closing of a door since she was not yet ready to ask directly. Emily on the other hand was trying to focus on the things going on outside the car in order to forget about the fact that her car was in the hands of somebody else. But as they pulled up to point on top of a cliff which over looked a lot of the town which was currently sparkling in the night, Emily gasped at the beauty of the view of the small town with a river running though the middle and the large school campus dominating the one edge of the town.

"Did you... um... did you date a lot while you lived overseas. I guess it can't be very easy not knowing when you have to leave, but you must have dated a few people."

Emily sensed that the question held a greater meaning to the girl who asked it than simply learning her dating history, so she answered it without trying to hide any of the things she usually would if someone such as her mother asked.

"Yeah I have, not often, because like you said it's difficult at first because I don't speak the right language and then because I never really know how long I'll be around. My first boyfriend was in Italy when I was 14, his name was John. I knew it wasn't right because I always wanted to spend more time with my best friend Marie, I tried to ignore the way that I felt but one day after school we were fooling around in the swimming pool at the Embassy and she kissed me, she climbed out of the pool and ran right afterward but that night I broke up with John, I only saw Marie once after that. I dated a few people in Italy mostly girls with the odd boy brought home to please my mother. Nothing serious though I think the longest relationship I had lasted three months. I lost my virginity not long before leaving Italy and in Russia I never dated, partly because of the language barrier but mostly out self preservation."

"Self preservation?" JJ asked, although she could tell Emily was done talking for the night.

"Yeah, but that is part of the stories we aren't ready to tell..." Emily replied and JJ nodded understanding the brunette's desire for the conversation to end.

**I know that this took a while, but it is longer than usual. And before anyone attacks me for insulting Twilight I am actually a fan, the idea just came from an argument a friend and I had recently.**

**Let me know what you think...PLEASE(It only takes a minute)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Two chapters in two days! Hope you enjoy.**

**I still don't own Criminal Minds. Just having fun.**

Emily and JJ drove back from the point in silence, JJ was still driving Emily's car which allowed her to focus on something other than all the things she had learned about the dark haired girl, unfortunately the answers she had gotten from Emily had left her with more questions and she only had one left. The whole way back to campus different questions floated through her mind but she couldn't pick which one she wanted the answer to more. What did Emily want to do after school? Where she wanted to go? What her favourite memory was? She even wanted to know if the brunette preferred winter or summer. But the thing that JJ really wanted to know was what had happened in her past to cause her isolation from any form of intimate relationship. Why she was able to interact with so many kinds of people and accumulate a wide variety of friends but was unable to get past that stage. Why she had created an impenetrable wall around her heart, and whether she would ever let anyone through.

JJ understood that all people felt the need to protect themselves to different extents. She understood that everybody had a different story to tell, and that not everybody's was a happy one. She would never begrudge anybody their secrets or privacy, because of how carefully she guarded her own but she had also never wanted to understand another person the way she wanted to understand Emily. To know why she had chosen sports of solitude over those in teams even when she was a child. To know why she had made up reasons to convince her mother to send her to school here when she clearly had a real one. And to know who had hurt her enough to send this beautiful girl fleeing so far behind her armour that she would avoid an entire country to prevent it happening again.

While JJ mused about the reasons for why Emily had become who she was, Emily pondered the blondes fourth question and the possible reasons for it. Plenty of people discussed their dating history with their friends, but the blonde had been too nervous before for it to have been just curiosity. For some reason the answer meant more to the blonde than simply finding out what it was like to date when you moved around a lot. Emily had no real problem with naming the people she had dated as long as she did not have to give much more information than that, she was not ashamed of her sexuality and she was not afraid of other peoples' opinions. However she had begun to worry slightly since JJ had not spoken a word to her since she had asked about the self preservation comment. Garcia had told Emily that JJ lived in a small town in Pennsylvania, Emily started to worry that maybe JJ wasn't ok with the fact the she dated girls and had decided to head back to campus in order to escape from her. Emily knew there were people that did not agree with her lifestyle and that some went so far as to believe that it should be illegal. She did not want to think that JJ might be such a person but she had absolutely no idea what to say to the girl to find out what was going on.

"JJ..." Emily started, but was quickly interrupted by the ringing of her cellphone.

"_You two better hurry up if you don't want to be late for curfew!" _Garcia's voice rang throught the phone.

"We're right outside the gate, how much time do we have." Emily asked suddenly realising that they had been gone for hours and would be in all kinds of trouble if they did not make it back in time.

"_10 minutes. You better run." _Garcia stated before hanging up the phone.

"Damn it this is cutting it close." Emily said turning towards JJ, "we've only got a few more minutes."

"We'll make it; I do not want to spend all week in detention." JJ muttered parking the car and ripping off her seat belt.

The two girls jumped out of the car slammed the doors and ran, JJ pressing the lock button as they went. Running across the lawn and through the quad JJ almost skidded into a bench as they turned the last corner. And as they made it through the door to their building, they saw Mrs Harrison coming from the younger dorms. They paused to catch their breath before climbing the stairs. At Emily's floor they stopped JJ handed back the car keys and they separated after an awkward "Good night." Each of the girls wondered what would happen next as they made their way to their separate rooms. While nothing that would have a huge effect had seemed to happen, they both felt the atmosphere between them changing, where it was leading neither of them knew.

**AN/**

**About their past stories, to answer your question Nightlancer600 I did consider following the canon of what happened with Emily in Rome but I decided not to.**

**There was a slight clue to what might have happened with Emily in the last chapter, but I'll be very impressed if anyone can guess what I was thinking...**

**So go on start guessing and tell me what you got!**


	10. Chapter 10

**ANONYMOUS REVIEWS ENABLED**

**So I just figured out that my anonymous reviews were disabled, anyway I changed that so anyone can review. Sorry, hope it didn't discourage anyone.**

**Kimd33, I just wanted to say I think it's awesome that you support you niece especially knowing considering you're sisters opinion. I haven't told my parents either, I honestly have no idea how they'll react and it's scary, so I know you're doing a good thing for your niece. **

**As always I do not own Criminal Minds, and the story is unbeta'd but I do hope that you will enjoy it and let me know what you think**

Over the weeks that followed Emily and JJ's trip to Max's bar, life became very chaotic for most of the school. The girls' varsity soccer team had made it to the playoffs and so they were spending a lot of time training so in between that and maintaining her GPA JJ had little time to do anything other than eat and sleep spending most of her day in a zombie like state as she moved from one place to another.

Emily had begun training more seriously for swimming as tryouts would be held right after test week. Her mother phoned her constantly to ensure she was not slacking in any of the standards the Ambassador expected of her only child as well as ensuring that Emily had planned a time to get a new outfit and everything else she would need to look perfect for their dinner which would be the day after tryouts. And although the Ambassador had not found the time to inform the school Emily would be away for that weekend she expected Emily to be prepared.

Even Morgan and Garcia had become a rare sight in the dorms, Morgan had been preparing for his season as captain of the school football team and attempting to get his second dan for his black belt, since both him and JJ attended the school on sports scholarships they put a lot of work in to show that the money and faith spent on their education by the scholarship committee had been deserved. They both managed to maintain at least a 3.7 GPA as well as playing for and leading some of the top teams at the school.

The weekend before test week Garcia decided that they would all be going to dinner together because none of them had been able to see each other for any decent period of time in so long, the other three were informed that anyone who did not arrive for dinner had better be dead. Each shuddered at the thought of what Garcia might do to them if they did not arrive.

With the news that they would soon be seeing each other again soon Emily and JJ were forced to confront the thoughts they had so far been able to ignore due the recent chaos. They were each apprehensive of how the other would react around them since they had had no opportunity to talk other than the odd hello as they passed in a corridor, and though things seemed a little more tense neither of them noticed the other actively trying to avoid which made both girls hopeful that they had just overreacted and there was not actually anything wrong but they had both been screwed over by hope before, this time they would be more cautious.

That Saturday the group of five, since Garcia had managed to tear Reid away from his precious text books, gathered around one of the back tables in a cafe near the school, Since they started dating Morgan and Garcia took every opportunity to sit as close together if not on top of one another, which left Reid sitting at the end and Emily and JJ sitting on the opposite side of the table trying to eat their dinner while the other two made goo goo eyes at one another. The group chatted about everything they had been doing, how each of their teams were doing, what work they were doing and the tests they would be writing in the coming week. They caught up on the things going on in each other's lives that they had missed and when Garcia found out about Emily's shopping trip the next day she insisted that she would have to go with to supervise.

"You can't go dress shopping on your own, the whole point is to go out with your girlfriends and have fun laughing at how ridiculous you look in some dresses. It's just depressing otherwise!" she exclaimed, "I'm coming with, I don't care what you say." She stated crossing her arms over her chest, daring Emily to argue with her.

"Ok you can come; I really don't understand why you would want to though." Emily replied quickly hoping to get the blonde to stop glaring at her.

"Jay, you wanna come to? We can have a girly day!" She clapped looking towards the other blonde who suddenly looked frightened at the prospect of having to spend a day doing girly things, especially trying on dresses. She had only had to do it once before as the flower girl for one of her cousins' weddings and had been dreading the day she would have to go out and find a prom dress since the only real thing she remembered from that time was trying on dress after dress, spending hours in dressing rooms and being poked by small old ladies trying to 'fix' things. Not a pleasant experience...

"Sorry cant, got practice tomorrow for the game on Tuesday." She said trying to feign disappointment at the fact, "you guys have fun though." She said as she turned to look at Emily, the brunette seemed disappointed, but JJ didn't think it had anything to do with her not going.

Emily snorted, "Yeah...fun." she said with chagrin.

"Oh don't say it like that," Garcia said tossing a serviette at Emily "So what is this dress for anyway, Prom is months away."

"Ambassador's dinner," Emily said resentfully, "my presence has been requested."

"Oh right, well at least you'll get to spend time with your mom." Garcia said, trying to find a bright side. She knew that Emily and her mom never had the best relationship but as someone who had lost both of her parents she believed any time spent with them was better than nothing.

"Yeah, I guess, mostly I just have to go so that she can show me off. I know she's proud of me, but it's mostly only so that she can claim the credit for her '_very accomplished daughter, who was becoming such a fine young lady,'_ but you're right it's nice seeing her especially now that I hardly get to." Emily smiled at Garcia, reaching over the table to squeeze her hand.

"Well then it's settled, you and me are having girly day tomorrow," she turned to Morgan and Reid, "Sorry no boys allowed." She stated.

"No problem babygirl," Morgan said, "this is one party I have no desire to crash."

"Yeah, and I'll finally be able to finish the copy of Dante's Inferno that you lent me Emily, it really is very fascinating to read the original Italian version, it's obvious that many of the smaller nuances were not translated and they make a vast difference to the reading itself." Reid said quickly.

Three sets of blank stares and one quiet smile were the only response to that statement. The three sets of eyes passed between Emily and Reid a few times, before three heads were shaken in order to clear the confusion.

"Right..." JJ started slowly, "well you enjoy yourself Spence." This caused Reid to blush while Morgan gave a deep belly laugh at the look on the younger boy's face. "Yeah boy genius, you have fun in the Italian circles of hell."

The group walked back to campus laughing as Morgan continued to tease Reid about his idea of how to spend a Sunday morning. The boy's turned to head towards their dorm as the girl's continued straight towards their own. At Emily and Garcia's floor the girl's separated as well.

"Good luck at practice tomorrow JJ." Emily said

"Thanks, but I think that you're the one that's going to need luck tomorrow." JJ said looking towards Garcia. "I'll see you around." She said as she turned to continue up the stairs.

"I have no idea what you mean." Garcia said indignantly, "Goodnight Jay."

**Let me know what you think and keep guessing! Although I won't tell you if you right cause that'll ruin the suspense ;)**


	11. Chapter 11

**As always I do not own Criminal Minds, and the story is unbeta'd but I do hope that you will enjoy it and let me know what you think**

**And I wanted to thank everyone for the encouragement, hopefully I'll figure out a way to tell them.**

On the day of their shopping trip, Emily and Garcia left soon after breakfast and headed towards the large shopping centre outside town. Emily was surprised by just how much fun she did have, although at first when Garcia had presented her with a large pile of dresses she described as being "perfect" she had been worried about how the day would turn out. After explaining to Garcia numerous times that she could not arrive dressed in all the colours of the rainbow or in enough costume jewellery to act as a disco ball the two girls found a dress that they could agree on, a burgundy and navy blue dress that hung off one shoulder, in total it took four hours and every dress shop in the building for them to find an entire outfit suitable for dinner with the Ambassador. They had lunch at the French restaurant next door to the shoe shop and then spent the day discussing Christmas presents and what they would be doing for the upcoming winter break. Emily bought a few new books while Garcia bought every brightly coloured piece of clothing she could find. Emily had initially wondered where Garcia even found such clothing, but now following her through the shops she noticed they were all over if you were actually looking. As they headed back towards the school they talked about the books they had read for the English class they shared, Emily, who had most enjoyed Pride and Prejudice explained some of the nuances of the book for Garcia, while Garcia explained the relevance of Cider House Rules to Emily, who understood the story but could find no practical meaning for it. The two had learnt early on in their classes together that they understood more about the books they read when they discussed them rather than only considering their own point of view and so spent a lot of time discussing different issues of each novel.

That week none of the group saw each other very often as they all focused on their own studies, they each shared a few classes and so they were able to catch up with each other, but for the most part they all separated into their own worlds for the week. By the end of it they were all exhausted, they spent Friday night in the cafeteria and watching a movie being shown in the school auditorium. Half way through the movie Garcia, Reid and JJ had all fallen asleep Morgan and Emily, who were trying not to laugh at the sight of three seniors passed out at nine o'clock, decided it was better to leave. Morgan woke Garcia who had fallen asleep in his arms while Emily tried to wake Reid before moving on to waking the blonde, who looked so peaceful resting lightly against her shoulder.

"Hey JJ, it's time to wake up." Emily whispered shaking JJ's shoulder.

"Hmm..." JJ shuffled slightly but stayed asleep.

"JJ, wake up we're going now." Shaking her shoulder again.

"Hmm... No Ash, it's not time..." JJ bolted up, almost hitting Emily in the face.

While Emily tried to figure out what had just happened as well as who Ash was JJ stood and straightened out her shirt, "Sorry Emily, I don't usually wake up so violently, you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm good and you?"

"I'm fine, obviously a lot more tired than I thought. Sorry for using you as a pillow by the way."

"It's really not a problem JJ, but anyway Morgan and I thought it was better if we all left now since the three of you were already sleeping." Emily stood grabbing her jacket off the back of the chair.

"Sounds like a good idea," Reid piped from the chair he was still sitting in rubbing his eyes, "Especially if all of us had fallen asleep and reached REM we might have spent all night here."

"Yes, thank you Reid." Emily laughed and ruffled his hair, "Let's get you to bed wonder boy."

The group made their way back to the dorms, Morgan practically carrying Garcia who refused to enter fully into consciousness. Nobody spoke, all of them waiting for the moment when they would collapse onto their beds and hopefully get a decent night's sleep. They said goodnight to one another at the point where they split to go to their separate buildings and Emily and JJ took over leading Garcia eventually making it up the stairs and into the room. She never stirred as she landed on the bed, simply curling into a ball.

"Thanks for helping me get her back." Emily said her arm still tingling where it had been resting against JJ's across Garcia's back.

"No problem, goodnight Emily. Have fun at your dinner tomorrow." JJ said walking out the door.

"Wait, what you doing this weekend, I mean since tests are finished I wondered if you guys had plans." Emily asked because she couldn't ask the question she really wanted answered.

"Soccer practice, we made it to the finals, so everyone's really excited." JJ smiled, soccer was the thing she loved to talk about most and she was proud of what the team had accomplished.

"When's the game?" Emily asked.

"Uh... it's on Tuesday," JJ said, "I should go you probably have to be up early tomorrow. Goodnight Emily."

"Yeah," Emily muttered to the now closed door, "night JJ."

**Let me know what you think**


	12. Chapter 12

**As always I do not own Criminal Minds, and the story is unbeta'd but I do hope that you will enjoy it**

**Thanks to everyone who reviews.**

Early the next morning, Emily woke up feeling apprehensive about seeing her mother. She checked that she had packed everything she would need for the dinner as well as the report card she had been handed when she went to the office to sign out for the night. Emily was not worried that she had failed; she worried about whether she had achieved enough to meet her mother's high standards. The Ambassador had achieved a lot of things in her life and believed that people were responsible for their own successes and failures; she did not take kindly to people who rode on others coat tails, or spent their life being average. Emily knew that there was only one real thing that her mother expected from her and that was to be the best, at everything that she did. It was something Emily expected of herself as well but sometime she felt as though her mother set the bar too far out of her reach that it was inevitable, whatever she achieved would never really be enough.

She got into her car, plugged in her IPod and found the song she was looking for _Landslide_ by Fleetwood Mac. Driving and listening to music where the two things that always relaxed Emily, the first thing she ever did when driving alone was listen to that song and long drives on her own were one of her favourite things to do. The drive to D.C. was about three hours and her mother was only expecting her in five, so she planned on going slowly stopping at a few of the tourist stops she had seen on her way to school the first time. Emily had seen a lot of the world, travelled to many countries and been immersed in all sorts of cultures but she had seen little of her own country, she often felt like a stranger in her own back yard.

Emily arrived at the Prentiss Mansion half an hour early and was very surprised when her mother walked out the front door to greet her, when her mother pulled her into a hug she wondered if she was about to get some really bad news. The last time her mother had hugged her like that was the day she found out her grandfather had died, she hoped to never hear news like that ever again.

"Mother?" she put her hands on her mother's shoulders, "Is something the matter?"

The Ambassador took a step back, "No dear, everything is fine... It's good to see you."

"You as well, I hope you weren't waiting long for me to arrive."

"No no, I just escorted Congresswoman Stiles out; I heard your car pull up from the entrance hall. How was the drive?"

"It was good, I left early so I stopped at one of those tourist market type things, and they were selling that honey you like so I got a few bottles for you." Emily spoke as she took her bag and her dress out of the car.

Hours later, Emily sat in her room running an iron through her hair when her mother knocked, "Emily, may I come in?" she asked from the other side of the door.

"Yes Mother, It's open." Emily replied putting the iron down on the dressing table before turning to grab her shoes. "I'm almost ready."

"There's no rush dear, David just left to pull the car around front."

"Ok." Emily said slipping on her shoes and standing to straighten out her dress. Her mother stood behind her, fiddling with a few strands of rogue hair near Emily's ear. "I thought you might like to wear this tonight." Elizabeth said handing her daughter a long thin box.

"Thank you Mother," she said opening the box to find the diamond necklace that Emily's grandmother had gotten for her 18th birthday and had been passed on to Elizabeth when she turned 18. Emily looked up into her mother's eyes. The question she was about to ask stuck in her throat as she found the answer in the brown eyes looking back at her. "Mother, this...," Emily swallowed, "Thank you Mother." She said as she turned back to face the mirror as Elizabeth took the necklace and hung it around Emily's neck.

"You are 18 now Emily, this necklace belongs to you." Her mother said as she fixed Emily's hair again. "I know that such celebrations often fall by the wayside but I also know how much you grandparents meant to you and that your grandmother would be honoured to have you wear her necklace."

"I understand. The work that you do is important, sometimes I just wish that it was less so, because than maybe we wouldn't have to miss out on the 'normal' celebrations that other families have. A Christmas in front of the fire rather than in a ballroom full of strangers. But I understand why you do the work you do." Emily looked up into her mother's eyes as she finished speaking.

Elizabeth wrapped her hand around her daughter's cheek, "I wish you hadn't grown up so fast. I feel as though I missed most of your life even when we lived in the same house. Now you live an ocean away, next year you'll be going to college. I'm afraid that a day will come that we hardly recognise each other."

"Mother sit, there is something that I do need you know. I'm not sure what you're going to think, but if you honestly want to know me, you have to know this and if you want to know anything else about me, first you have to accept this one thing about me." Emily said taking a deep breath and grabbing her mother's hand as Elizabeth sat on the edge of Emily's bed.

"Tell me Sweetheart." Elizabeth said, trying not to display the worry which began rushing through her mind when Emily spoke.

"I'm bisexual Mother. It's not a phase or rebellion, it's just one thing about me, that doesn't change anything else about who I am or could be." Emily looked into her mother's eyes the entire time she spoke, unwilling to look away out of shame or doubt.

"How long have you known?" Elizabeth asked.

"Since I was sixteen, when we left Rome two years ago." Glad her mother was asking questions rather than yelling or walking away.

"This doesn't change who you are to me, I love you Emily, because of everything that you are." Elizabeth pulled her daughter into a hug fighting the tears burning at the back of her eyes.

That evening as Emily had escorted her mother into the ballroom, she felt as though the wall that existed between them was beginning to crumble, and the woman who stood on the otherside was not the same one who had stood there before.

**Let me know what you think**


	13. Chapter 13

**My Christmas offering to you all.**

**As always I do not own Criminal Minds, and the story is unbeta'd but I do hope that you will enjoy it**

Emily drove back to school on Sunday afternoon; her and her mother had spent the morning together visiting a few of the museums' new displays and then had an early lunch before she left. Emily was surprised by how relaxed she was after spending twenty four hours with her mother; they had not been able to do that in a very long time. After promising to see one another in two weeks for Christmas Emily had gotten in her car to head back to school for the last week before the holidays while Elizabeth headed to the airport for her flight back to Italy. Her parents would both be back in two weeks for Christmas, Emily knew that even though her mother had heard what she said they would still be expected to appear at the White House Christmas party on Christmas Eve, her mother said she would do what she could to be able to spend at least Christmas morning as a family.

After three hours in the car Emily was still thinking about the conversations she had had with her mother. A small nagging doubt continued to make itself heard at the back of her head, Emily knew that her mother was a career politician and was very good at manipulating people, seeming sincere in order to get what she wanted from them. The daughter in her wanted to believe in the things that her mother said to her, the realist understood that all of the hope she had built in the last twenty four hours may one day come crumbling down around her. She parked and grabbed her bag from the boot, still lost inside her head she made her way towards the office to check back in and then wondered the paths back towards her dorm room.

On the way she looked up to the tree that she would often find JJ sitting under whenever she needed a moment alone, she wasn't surprised to see her there at the moment, JJ had a lot of pressure on her at the moment, aside from general school work she was a senior working hard to get a college scholarship as well as being the captain of the varsity soccer team who were looking to win their fifth championship title in a row, breaking the state record which was currently four in a row and was held by their rival school. Emily had not been to any of the games so far but she planned to be there on Tuesday to support JJ in the same way JJ had supported her. They hadn't talked much since they had gone to inner at Max's; things seemed to be ok between them, or at least they were not worse. Emily hoped that meant that JJ wasn't bothered by what she had told her.

Emily changed directions heading toward JJ rather than her dorm room.

"Mind if I join you?" she asked coming to a stop near the blonde who had not yet noticed her presence.

After standing there for a moment, she knelt down and touched JJ's shoulder, JJ grabbed her wrist and pushed her back, sitting up quickly.

"JJ... It's me!" Emily exclaimed now sitting on the ground where she had been pushed, she noticed JJ's eyes were a lot darker than usual.

"God...Emily I'm sorry, you scared me." JJ said running her hands though her hair.

"It's ok, don't worry about it. Is everything ok?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just wasn't expecting anyone to come over here."

"Oh right... well I'll go then and leave you in peace. Sorry for bothering you." Emily said a little hurt at the way JJ seemed to be brushing her off.

"No Em... stay here. Tell me about your dinner." JJ said quickly, she didn't seem to notice that she had called Emily Em, but the dark brunette had definitely noticed.

"It was really good actually, my mom and I talked... like really talked the way we haven't been able to for years. The dinner was good, spent most of the night talking about school, sports and what I planned to once I finish school, a lot of people think I should follow in my mother's footsteps, marry a boy from an old money family and go into politics. None of them really understand when you explain that you want something different."

"Haha, I know what you mean. Even when I applied for the scholarship to come here my mother couldn't understand why I didn't want the same life as she had; finish school, get married, buy a house and have a couple of kids, she could never understand why I want more than the life of a small town housewife." JJ smiled, "It's not easy to justify fighting for something you're not sure exists in the first place. And why I would ever want to go to college is far beyond my mother's comprehension."

The two girls sat quietly for a moment.

"What do you want to do when you graduate?" JJ asked.

"Honestly I'm not sure, I'll apply to a couple of colleges, but I'm thinking about taking a year off to do other things... I haven't really worked out which direction my life is heading in yet."

"That's cool; you have a lot of options so you don't have to worry about it yet."

"Yeah, so how's practice for the game going, you guy's ready?" Emily asked, sensing JJ's growing discomfort with the topic of the future.

"Yeah, I think we are, most of us have been playing together for at least a year so we know how each other think, it's the other team we have to prepare for you know, learning their strengths and weaknesses so that we are ready for anything." JJ got lost in her thoughts for moment, "sorry you were probably only asking to be polite not expecting a rambling reply. Do you even know much about soccer?" she asked doubtfully.

"I do a bit, it's a really big deal in Europe, except they call it football, so I learnt how it worked while I lived there, went to see a few games, but I wasn't nearly as invested in it as a lot of fans are."

"Haha, yeah I've seen some of those games on TV, sometimes seems like the fans are even more invested in it then the players."

"Yeah, the spirit and the vibe in the stadium are pretty inspiring. But on Tuesday everyone will be there cheering you on."

"Yeah, the crowd should be pretty big since it's the end of term as well, I'm more worried about the jackal's who will be circling, deciding which of us are good enough to make it further, 'theirs not to reason why; theirs but to do and die; into the valley of death; rode the six hundred.'"

"Tennyson, really JJ?" Emily asked trying to hold back a laugh.

"Yeah, that's how much this game means to a lot of us, it's scary but true. For some our futures live or die by the way we play on Tuesday."

"Well then leader of the Light Brigade, I will be there to honour your cause." Emily said patting JJ's jean clad knee.

**Let me know what you think, I know the ending was a little odd. The quotes come from Lord Alfred Tennyson's ****The Charge of the Light Brigade.**

**I hope you all had/are having an awesome Christmas. This was my present to you since I will be away until next year and then I'll be back for maybe long enough to get another chapter up before I leave again, but then I'll be around for another month before varsity starts so the story will continue.**

**Question number 5 will appear in the next chapter for anyone who thinks I can't count and/or forgot.**

**Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!**


	14. Chapter 14

**I hope you all had an amazing New Years Eve. The beach, friends (sometimes not fully clothed) and fireworks (and far too much alcohol) make for a truly memorable evening, so other than the hour I spent working out if I had enough money to bail people out of jail mine was awesome. The moral of the story ****NEVER drink and drive. **

**As always I do not own Criminal Minds, and the story is unbeta'd but I do hope that you will enjoy it and let me know what you think**

At six o'clock on the last Tuesday of the term the school gathered for the game. Fifteen girls dressed in dark blue warmed up on the field as the stands began to fill with students and parents showing their support with big flags, posters and supporters shirts. On the other side of the field the other team were huddled together near their coach as their own fans filed into the bleachers.

Emily sat in the second row with Morgan Garcia and Reid. Reid had come with a book too big for most people to finish in a week never mind the course of a soccer game, Garcia wore a blue shirt, white skirt and blue All Stars, she had also put a blue extension in her hair in support of one of her best friends. Morgan and Emily wore blue shirts and jeans. Morgan was busy telling Emily about the opponent school and how good they were.

"They won the championship last year, we came in third." Morgan said.

"Do you think that we'll be able to beat them this time?" Emily asked worriedly.

"I think I've never seen JJ so determined to prove something before, her whole heart is in this game."

"Yeah, she seems to have a lot on her shoulders." Emily said, hoping Morgan might tell her something about the blonde.

"She just doesn't want to mess this up, it means too much to her." Morgan answered, far too cryptically in Emily's opinion.

As the players ran to the side of the field to talk to their coaches before the game started Morgan and Reid left to get drinks and snacks for everyone, Garcia slid into the seat next to Emily.

"When she is ready for you to know what happens inside her head, you'll understand why we are so evasive when asking questions. For us, she is somebody worth protecting, for you; I think she'll be somebody worth the wait." Garcia said before sliding back into her own seat.

Ten minutes later, the boys come back loaded with stuff, Morgan had inhaled a hot dog and everyone had stood up for the singing of the national Anthem. Emily expected them to then spread out for the beginning of the game; instead the voice of the coach came over the loud speaker,

"A moment of silence for our former captain, Ashley Trent. A valued Captain, player and friend."

Even over the distance between them Emily noticed the way that JJ's hand clenched and her shoulders went rigid as if she were fighting the urge to run... or cry. She remembered a moment not so long ago when she had woken JJ up and said something about Ash as she bolted up from her chair.

"Ok ladies, the best of luck to you all."

Everybody ran to the sides of the field while JJ, the opposing captain and the umpire walked to the centre for the coin toss. When she won the toss, JJ chose possession of the ball, so the teams dispersed to their half. At half time the score was 1-1, Emily walked toward the bathroom wondering why JJ seemed so distracted out on the field, she had seen her once during practice and she had been completely focused on the game, now it was as though something else was getting in the way. As she walked back toward her seat she noticed JJ sitting on her own in the middle of the field and turned toward her instead of carrying on to her seat.

"While horse and hero fell,  
>They that had fought so well<br>Came thro' the jaws of Death  
>Back from the mouth of Hell," Emily sat down in front of JJ, "How's it going?" she asked.<p>

JJ looked up from her hands and into Emily's eyes, "I'm going to fail." She said quietly.

"What do you want from tonight JJ?" Emily asked looking right back into JJ's eyes.

"Yesterday... I wanted to be good enough to get a scholarship, yesterday; I wanted to win for the team and for the school. Today I want to win for her... and I'm so afraid of failing that I can't even think straight." JJ took a deep breath, "I also... I kind of hate that everything that I wanted for myself has taken second place."

"I didn't know her, so I can't tell you what she might think but I know this, when you live your life for the happiness of others you often lose sight of your own. If she cared about you the way you still care about her, achieving the things you wanted yesterday would be enough for her. You've been working for this for at least as long as I've known you, don't give it away out of some sense of duty to someone else. You do everything you can to achieve your own dreams without stepping on anyone in the process and nobody can begrudge you your happiness. I happen to know that there are a few people who would do anything to help you achieve that, sure they are a little crazy, but they expect nothing from you that you don't expect of yourself."

"JJ! Get over here!" the coach called from the side lines.

"The two stood quickly, "Go. Impress scouts and get that win for everyone, but mostly for yourself." Emily said.

"Thank you Emily," JJ said, squeezing Emily's wrist before running off toward her team.

Just before the umpire blew the whistle to start the second half JJ looked towards where her friends sat in the stands and all of the reasons she stood on that field at that moment flooded her mind, yes there was a part of her that wanted this win for Ashley, but there was a much bigger part that wanted it for herself, for her teammates and for all of the people sitting in the stands.

With her focus back in this moment the team found their momentum and won the game 4-1. They cheered as though they had just won the world cup. As the losing team left the field after the handshakes and award ceremony the sea of blue waiting on the bleachers rushed onto the field with Garcia in the lead. Emily spotted JJ being squashed by Garcia and so busied herself congratulating the few other players she had met during the semester, while talking to a few of the girls she felt somebody grab her hand and pull her away from the crowd.

JJ continued to pull Emily along by her hand, Emily noticed that they had left the stadium and even in the darkness she knew they were headed towards the tree JJ spent so much time sitting under. JJ sat down pulling Emily down with her, it was the first chance Emily had gotten to see JJ face since she had been grabbed, her eyes sparkled with joy and unshed tears. Emily frowned as JJ removed the MVP medal she had just been awarded and put it around Emily's own neck, then placed a light kiss on one of her hands. "Thank you Emily. For everything. For sticking around. For believing."

"Of course JJ. But why did you give me this?" She asked battling through the fog in her mind caused by the feel of JJ's lips on her skin and fidgeting with the gold disk hanging over her chest.

"Because, we never would have done what we did if you hadn't kicked me in the ass during half time. Because we would have lost that game without you there. Because you are the reason six scouts just offered me full ride scholarships to go to college." JJ said with conviction looking up into the sky, as she looked back down into Emily's eyes she opened her mouth to speak. But when she saw the look in Emily's eyes she the sentence died in her throat and instead she leaned forward slowly closing her eyes and pressed her lips softly against Emily's. Neither of them moved to end or deepen the kiss, they savoured the feeling of having the other's warm lips pressed against their own until JJ tilted her head to lean her forehead against Emily's and opening her mouth to verbalise what she had wanted to say earlier.

"Because I know what I want my last question to be." She whispered quietly, her breath washing over Emily's lips.

**So... tell me what you think.**

**I'm gonna try my best to update again tomorrow before I go away again, otherwise I'll be back in about ten days to let you know what the final question is. Anyone got any ideas?**


	15. Chapter 15

**Nightlancer600: Thanks for your constant reviews and yes your guess was pretty close, I did consider the date question but it seemed a bit anticlimactic.**

**Celine: Their feelings are developing... just a bit slowly I realise this could be frustrating but I'm working on it. **

**Mel: I hope you don't die before the story ends, and thank you for the very enthusiastic reviews ;) **

**Gr8d8: sorry about leaving you hanging... hope you can hang on a little longer.**

**KImd33: New years with family is always fun and thank you for always reviewing my story it always makes me smile to hear stories from other peoples lives (assuming they're happy stories obviously)**

**As always I do not own Criminal Minds, and the story is unbeta'd but I do hope that you will enjoy it and let me know what you think**

"_Because I know what I want my last question to be." She whispered quietly, her breath washing over Emily's lips_

"You do?" Emily asked, "It took you this long to think of another question to ask me." Emily began to wonder how difficult it would be to answer if it had taken the blonde so long to ask it.

"No, there were a few others that I wanted to ask but when I thought of this one I knew it was the right question. I just... I wasn't ready yet." JJ whispered since the two girls were still sitting with their foreheads pressed together, "But tonight after the faith that you had in me and the will to fight you gave back to me, I think I'm ready... and I wanted to ask if... if you... no if I... if I told you my story, would you tell me yours?" JJ separated their foreheads to be able to look into Emily's eyes when she finally managed to get the question out.

"I... um... are you sure JJ? We don't have to do this now if you aren't ready, you don't owe me anything, especially for earlier." Emily answered massaging one of JJ's hands, "But if this is what you really want then yes JJ, I will tell you my story."

"I'm sure Em, I know that I haven't been the easiest person to get to know, that I'm evasive about answering questions and just distant in general. I know that a lot of the people here, who I was close to in the past, got tired of being blown off or even just ignored by me, I understand why they stopped making an effort to be friends with me. But you, you didn't even know me then, you didn't know the person I used to be, the person who got along with everybody, the person I hope still exists somewhere inside me. You always tried, to include me, to talk to me, and I'm sorry for the way I acted but I couldn't handle the idea of getting hurt again and I avoided everyone else hoping I wouldn't be reminded of what happened, but here in this place, I can't get away from it, so I have to find a way to get past it and I'd like to start with you."

"Ok JJ, I can understand that. I'd love to hear any story that tells me more about who you are now, or who you were and want to be and I want you to know that you can trust me with any story you have to tell. But for tonight may I make a suggestion?" Emily asked looking to JJ who nodded quickly. "You achieved something amazing tonight JJ, and I for one know a few people who would like to celebrate that fact, you won the championship as a senior as well as the captain, you pretty much guaranteed yourself a spot in college and you just took this giant leap toward being who you want to be. So I think we should go find the three stooges and do something together, because tonight is about right now, without the past or the future, and I think we all deserve a night off from reality. Tomorrow we'll figure out everything else."

"Sounds good to me." JJ said standing and pulling Emily up by the hand she was still holding.

"Cool, come on, they've probably gone back to the dorm by now." Emily said walking toward the lights of the school buildings.

"There you two are!" Garcia exclaimed as they walked into the room she shared with Emily, "I was beginning to wonder where you to had vanished off to... in the dark... on your own." She said wiggling her eyebrows while Morgan who sat next to her simply shook his head.

"Nowhere that you need to worry about," JJ said moving to sit on Emily's desk chair since Reid had already made himself comfortable on the bottom of her bed. "So what are we doing tonight, according to Emily we should be celebrating?" JJ smirked toward the brunette who was now sitting on her bed.

Garcia and Morgan looked from JJ to each other and finally toward the brunette who they noticed was wearing JJ's medal around her neck, they looked back at each other deciding not to say anything about whatever was happening. "So what did you have in mind?" Morgan asked the brunette.

"My mom used to take me for ice cream when I won something." Reid piped looking up from the book he had picked up off Emily's bookshelf.

Ooh ice cream!" Garcia squealed.

"Works for me." JJ said, "as long as I can get a double scoop... with chocolate sauce!" a grin spreading across her face.

"Then ice cream it is." Emily smiled at the blonde's reaction to getting ice cream, "my treat."

The group went to the local ice cream parlour and spent the evening rehashing the match and congratulating JJ about every pass and steal she made causing the blonde to blush more than once during the course of the evening. Once they'd covered the whole game they sat together laughing and telling stupid stories, enjoying the fact that none of them had anything to worry about until after Christmas break. They would all be returning home for the holidays and so they made plans to spend as much time together before they separated to their own home towns.

As they walked back toward the school Reid left to visit the library, Morgan and Garcia wondered off to spend time together leaving Emily and JJ alone to wonder the corridors as neither was ready to head to bed, they wandered around almost every corridor in the school before sitting on a bench in the same quad where JJ had first run into Emily. Their hands brushed every now and then, but neither moved to grab the others hand, content with the shivers that ran up their arms whenever they did touch.

Once sitting on the bench JJ leaned against one of the arms looking at Emily, "I know that you said tonight should be just about tonight but there is something I want to tell you now, that maybe I wont have the courage to say tomorrow." JJ was looking at her hands, playing with her necklace. "is that ok?" she asked looking back up at Emily.

"Yeah JJ, you can tell me. Whenever you feel like you need to say something I'll do my best be there to listen." Emily replied, looking at the blonde next to her who had curled into herself. Emily hoped that one day the blonde wouldn't feel the need to protect herself from her.

"I know we said we'd tell each other our stories, and maybe you're worried about how I'm going to react to what you say but I want you to know that whatever it is that happened that would cause you to avoid an entire country it wont be enough to get ne to avoid you. I'm tired of running, from the things that scare me and from the things that I want."

"Am I something that scares you JJ? Or something you want?" Emily asked praying to hear the blonde say she wanted her. "You're more of one and less of the other. I do want you Emily... and that makes you something that scares me. But I won't run away, as long as you're honest with me I can handle whatever it is you're hiding from." JJ shifted to sit next to Emily, "Anyway what I'm trying to say is that I know that it's going to be difficult whether we do it tomorrow or next month, but I think we're going to be ok, that this won't be the thing that tears us apart.

**I know I know it seems like I'm never gonna get to the point but I promise I'm trying. I meant to put at least a part of one of the stories in this chapter but it just wasn't working and it didn't seem to fit anywhere and I didn't want to just stick it somewhere random but I can promise that they will appear in the next two chapters. And I'm very sorry that you're going to have to wait till I get back home for that so I hope you all have a good week and I'll be back soon.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Ok I know it took longer than I said but it took me two days to write and it's about 2 and half times longer than usual. I hope that you all enjoy and aren't disappointed.**

**Thank you to everyone who Favourited/Alerted for the story or me it means a lot.**

**To my faithful few reviewers thanks a lot as always and Mel I think you might actually be a crazy person... but that's totally cool with me, just don't die.**

**As always I do not own Criminal Minds, and the story is unbeta'd but I do hope that you will enjoy it and let me know what you think**

Emily woke up long before her alarm went off the next morning, she headed to the pool rather than trying to go back to sleep. She knew that her conversation with JJ was going to be difficult and she needed time to work out how to tell the blonde girl about her past so that she would understand the choices she had made, she knew that JJ had said she wouldn't run away but there were some things that people just didn't understand, or didn't want to justify. Emily hoped that JJ would not be one of those people. Emily had been swimming up and down one of the centre lanes of the pool for almost half an hour when she noticed that someone was sitting at the edge she was swimming toward, she couldn't see their face but they had their feet dangling in the water so she slowed her pace until she was near the edge and stood removing her goggles from her eyes.

"Hey..." JJ said quietly.

"Hey yourself," Emily replied wading the rest of the way to the pool's edge, "what you doing in here so early in the morning?" she asked as she lifted herself out of the pool to sit next to the other girl.

"I saw you leaving the dorm just now, I watched you swim for a while and now here I am." She answered.

"Here you are." Emily echoed the last part of the sentence.

"I didn't mean to interrupt, it's just... well you looked like you were doing more worrying than swimming so I decided to come and interrupt whatever you were thinking before you're head exploded." JJ grinned as she saw the brunette flush.

"Yeah, swimming laps has always been the time that I do all my thinking, I think it's the repetitive motion, helps clear my head, but sometimes I do tend to do more thinking than swimming." Emily grinned sheepishly.

"My past, I've never really talked about it before to anyone, I've definitely never told anyone everything and I'm trying to figure out how to explain it you know, so it makes sense."

"You tell it the way it makes sense to you, if I've got a question I'll just ask." JJ said.

"You um... you ready to hear it because the waiting is making more and more worried about what you'll say."

"Yeah, I'm up for a story." JJ answered taking the brunettes hand into her own, trying to calm the other girl's nerves.

"_Ok, so um you know I told you that I lived in a lot of places growing up, it was hard for a lot of reasons, anyway it was difficult making friends and stuff every time we moved somewhere new because I didn't speak the right language or I spoke funny, I wore the wrong clothes, my skin was too pale, or I was just the little rich girl. Anyway this went on almost everywhere that we lived until I was 13 and we moved to Italy, my mom called me into her office the first day that we were there she knew that I always did well at school but that I struggled with the people, she told me that since the school year only started in a month she had hired a private tutor for me to learn Italian before starting classes because I would be attending one of the public schools in the area, so I spent the month learning Italian and rarely leaving the grounds of the Embassy and the day before I was supposed to start school my mother called me into her office again. She said, "Emily, tomorrow you will be starting high school. I know that you often struggle to make friends every time we move but this time I'd like to give you some advice. You're a smart girl Emily, you're talented at a variety of things and it is from that you should draw your confidence, you make yourself into the person you want to be, the person you want others to see, you fake it until it becomes natural and you don't have to pretend anymore. I know it's easier to live in the background sometimes, but you can't spend forever as an extra in your own life Emily. People won't judge you for having the confidence to walk up to them and say hello, they will if you walk to the empty desk at the back of the class without ever saying a word to anyone." Anyway I spent the night thinking about what she had told me and she was right, there had come a point in my life where I simply stopped trying to make friends with anybody, I did sports that required opponents not teammates and I withdrew into myself. The next day at school I spoke to someone in everyone of my classes, asked to join a table at lunch rather than sitting by myself and eventually I had formed a group of friends who had no idea that on the inside I was still terrified of what they thought of me because on the outside I didn't seem to care much about what anyone thought._

_There were about ten of us that always hung out together but I was the closest to a girl named Marie and two American boys, John and Matthew. John and I started dating after I'd been there for about a year I was fourteen at the time, but even when I was with John I thought constantly about Marie, when he kissed me I caught myself wishing that it was her. I already told you this bit before but anyway John and I had been dating for about three months when one afternoon Marie and I were messing around in the pool, a few days before school started again, when Marie grabbed my arms and trapped me against the side of the pool, "Why are you always watching me so?" she asked me. "Do you want something from me?" I was shocked I told her I wasn't sure what I wanted from anyone, and then she kissed me, it was slow, warm, the way I'd imagined all those times it had been John's lips against mine and then she pulled away she looked into my eyes and said, "if a man lies with a man as one lies with a women..." and then she was gone. She never showed up when school started, she didn't show up all year."_ Emily had almost forgotten where she was, why she was telling this story when JJ began to play with her fingers Emily looked into her eyes and then continued.

"_Nobody knew where she was, her family was still living in the same house but she had vanished and no one in the family would say anything about where she had gone. I started doing really stupid things, I knew that there were people who believed homosexuality was wrong but the way she said that line and then vanished haunted me. I broke up with John that night; I never gave him a real reason for why so he was pretty upset and only spoke to me when he had to. I started spending a lot of time with Matthew, who at the time was having some sort of a crisis of faith, he had a lot of questions which his priest and parents refused to talk about. We started going out a lot, we drank too much, smoked a lot of weed and... God there are whole days at a time that I don't remember anything about. After about six months of this going on we went to some club I hooked up with this girl who looked a lot like Marie, her and her friends were doing some drug, I don't even know what it was, they offered Matt and I some, he took them quickly, I hesitated... but I did it anyway, the next morning I woke up on a couch in the back office of the bar." _

Emily stopped and wiped the tear rolling down her cheek away quickly before looking into JJ's eyes. She expected to see shock maybe even condemnation in her eyes but all she found was empathy and even a little fear about what might have happened. JJ stood up and for a moment Emily thought she was going to leave, but she stopped at Emily's own bag and took out her towel and a bottle of water. Walking back she wrapped the towel around Emily's shoulders and handed her the water.

"It's ok Em, stop for a minute." JJ said sitting back down next to the girl who had begun shivering, she took off her own hoodie, "Here, put this on." She said passing the jersey over and taking the towel away and wrapping her arm around Emily's waist once she had the Hoodie over her swimsuit.

"Thanks JJ." Emily said quietly looking down into the water but leaning toward the blonde, soaking in her warmth.

"You doing okay?" JJ asked.

"Yeah, it's just hard remembering this stuff, you know. I'm not really proud of who I was back then."

"But look at who you are now Em. You obviously found a way to make yourself better." JJ said rubbing her hand up and down Emily's side.

"Yeah, I guess. That's the next part of the story... sort of." Emily said before looking back out over the length of the pool and continuing her story.

"_When I woke up I had no idea where I was. A man walked into the room and when he saw I was awake he sat down in the chair behind the desk. "What happened," I asked once I recognised as the bartender. "There was a police raid, I found you unconscious in the bathroom after they shut down the bar and brought you here to sleep it off." "Where's Matthew?" I asked trying to remember anything from the night before. "You're friend was arrested along with those girls you were partying with. Drug possession." The guy gave me something to eat and called me a cab. I passed out as soon as I got home and when I woke up I found a message on my phone from Matthew saying he's been bailed out by his parents, who were shipping him back to the States at the end of the school year because they couldn't deal with his behaviour anymore, he had been charged with possession of an illegal substance and the fact that he had so much stuff caused them to suspect him of dealing as well. I flushed everything I had down the toilet and that day I decided that I had to stop everything I had been doing, my grades were falling I had missed a month's worth of swimming training and pretty soon my Mother was gonna find out what had been going on and then I'd be in even worse trouble. Matt and I didn't speak much after that, we finished that year and I managed to scrape up a high enough grade that my mother didn't completely lose it and spent then spent the entire holiday inside the walls of the Embassy, refusing to see any of my friends._

_My last year in Italy was mostly ok, school was good, I went out with my friends occasionally and even John had started being friendly again. About half way through the year my mom told me we'd be moving to Russia sometime in the next two months and then I would get a tutor to finish the year. About a months after that Marie walked back into my life, she was completely different to the person I had always known, she was... harder I guess you could call it. It was a weekend and we had all planned to do stuff together so Marie came with, she didn't speak to me until the Sunday night though I wish she never had. I was in the bathroom at the bowling alley we were all at, Marie walked in while I was washing my hands she grabbed my hips and spun me away from the sink and she kissed me softly at first but then hard enough that I started to worry. She bit my lip pushed me against a wall and ripped my shirt open. I thought... I thought she was going to rape me, I thought I was going to lose my virginity in a bowling alley bathroom by being raped by a girl I had once thought I loved. She didn't actually, but it was horrible enough. She broke my bra off grabbed my chest shoved her knee between my legs and when I started to cry she took a step back looked into my eyes and then walked away. When I got out of the bathroom John had come looking for me, I had fixed all of my clothes and told him I wasn't feeling well so he drove me home. On the way he told me that he was still in love with me. I slept with him that night in the back seat of his dad's car. I don't know why, I guess I was looking for comfort from somebody I knew would never hurt me. The next morning when I woke up I had bruises on my hips and on my chest from where Marie had grabbed me, there was hickey on my neck from John and I spent twenty minutes vomiting up my insides because of how disgusting I felt, I regretted what had happened with John and hated who Marie had become, I hated myself as well, I think I had five showers that day; I kept washing my hands kind of like Lady Macbeth after she killed her husband." _Emily looked up into JJ's eyes,_ "That afternoon my mom told me we'd be leaving for Russia in a week; it was the happiest I had ever been about moving away and I haven't spoken to anybody from Italy since, I never even told them I was leaving." _With her story finished Emily closed her eyes and waited.

"Look at me Emily." JJ said.

"I don't know if I can." Emily responded.

"Please Em, look at me. I'm not running away, but I'd like to be able to see your eyes when I say what I want to say."

JJ said squeezing Emily's hand tightly.

"But I'm afraid," she said, "Of what I'll see in your eyes when I open mine."

"It's ok Em," she said lifting the hand she was holding and pressing it against her lips. "Look at me."

Emily opened her eyes at the feel of JJ's lips brushing her knuckles. In JJ's eyes she found a kind of sadness she had never expected, as though she were morning for the younger version of Emily.

"I understand that you did things that you regret now but you didn't deserve what happened to you, nobody deserves that. And maybe sleeping with John wasn't the best idea but I'm not going to judge you for it. You needed something or someone to make you feel safe again, and he was obviously someone that cared a lot about you. You're past doesn't scare me Em, in fact it makes the person that I know you are now even more amazing because of what happened. To me you are the same person you were an hour ago and it's because and in spite of your past. You're an amazing friend to the people here who know you, and you shouldn't be afraid of how we'll judge you." JJ said wiping the tears from Emily's eyes.

"Thank you JJ." Emily said quietly, not really sure how else she was supposed to respond.

"So now that you don't have to be afraid of how I'll react how about we go get you some actual clothes and some food, and we can talk about this more later if you want?" JJ said, "Or if you don't want to talk anymore we can do something else and if I have a question later I'll just ask, and we can figure it out from there."

"I can live with that, and you can ask me anything, whenever there's something you want to know, once you've managed to wrap your mind around everything I said." Emily said standing and pulling JJ up by their still joined hands. She pulled JJ into her arms hugging her tightly and breathing in her shampoo before she leant her head against the blondes, "Thank you JJ, you have no idea how worried I was about telling you and how much you're accepting it means."

"It's ok Em; there wasn't a lot that would have scared me away completely." She said tilting her head down to brush her lips across Emily's.

**So was it a total anticlimax? Tell me please.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Thanks to all my reviewers. And to Mel you don't have to tell me who you are if you don't want to or you're not ready, as long as you keep reading and letting me know what you think, I can wait ;).**

**As always I do not own Criminal Minds, and the story is unbeta'd but I do hope that you will enjoy it and let me know what you think**

After Emily had changed into dry clothes the girl's walked into the cafeteria for breakfast, after Emily had a bowl of fruit and yogurt and JJ had grabbed a stack of pancakes and syrup they found Garcia, Morgan and Reid sitting at a table while Reid finished off his breakfast.

"Well if it isn't the disappearing roommate and her mischievous accomplice. Where have you ladies been since the wee hours of the morning?" Garcia asked, her eyes sparkling.

"I went swimming earlier, then JJ and I ran into each other and now here we are." Emily answered evasively.

"Well sit down my lovely ladies. The boys and I were just discussing our plans for the break since we'll all be going our separate ways tomorrow. My gorgeous hunk will be leaving us at lunch time with his mama bear whom is leaving Chicago in the wee hours. Mr. Read and I are headed to the airport in the afternoon and then boy genius will be returning to his mama in Vegas while I'll be returning home to the great state of Massachusetts to see the grandparents. And what will you lovely ladies be doing for the Christmas break?" Garcia rambled.

"Well I'm leaving whenever, driving back to DC for the break and my parents should be flying home in a couple of days. We usually have a huge dinner with all the stuffy people my parents are friends with and then hopefully they'll all go away and I'll hopefully be having a quiet Christmas day. What about you JJ." Emily had noticed that JJ had withdrawn some since the topic of home had arisen but had no way of understanding why since she didn't know anything about her family.

"I'm going home I guess, haven't heard from my parents yet so I'm not really sure what the plan is." JJ said, looking down at her plate refusing to meet any of her friends' gazes.

"What do you mean you haven't heard from your parents, surely they know that school finishes tomorrow." Emily said, getting more worried and confused.

"They know, I told them when I got dropped off but we haven't spoken in a while." JJ answered vaguely still looking at her plate.

"Oh ok." Emily said deciding to stop asking questions JJ obviously didn't want to answer, when Garcia opened her mouth to ask more questions Emily shook her head telling her to leave it alone for a while.

The group sat quietly and finished off their breakfast, Morgan tried and failed to start a conversation with Garcia trying to ease the awkward silence while Reid randomly spouted facts whenever he felt the table had been quiet for too long. After twenty minutes JJ stood up to leave, saying goodbye to her friends she claimed that she needed to go and pack. Emily followed two minutes later.

"Hey." She said quietly from the doorway of JJ's room.

JJ looked up, surprised Emily had followed her, "Hey," she answered back.

"You wanna talk about it?" Emily asked walking in and closing the door before sitting with her back against the wall.

"I'm not really sure, I was gonna tell you about it later but now it sort of feels like the conversations been forced instead of the way I planned to explain it." JJ said as she looked through her cupboard.

"You don't have to tell me, but I'm listening if you have anything you need to say."

"Thanks, it's just... you know how you didn't want to tell me what happened because you felt embarrassed about some of the things you had done, ashamed about things that happened. For me it's different, I never felt like I did anything wrong, I feel like my life turned into some sort of soap opera for a while and everyone went crazy... and then everyone was gone. It's not something I'm ashamed to tell you, it's just sad and I'm not really sure I can deal with pity from you."

"I don't pity you Jay, I'm not sure I ever could. So far I know that something happened with Ashley last year and that she died and today I learnt that there is something going on between you and your family. I don't pity you Jay, I might feel sad about some of the things you'll tell me but it's not pity it's because I care and your being sad makes me sad, because I hate to see you hurting." While she had been speaking Emily had walked over to where JJ stood and wrapped her arms around the girl whose eyes had begun to water, she pulled her down onto the bed lying on her back with JJ against her side, breathing on her neck.

"I haven't spoken to my parents since they dropped me off at the train station. While I was there they only spoke to me when they needed me to do something. I called once; my mother asked all of the obligatory questions and refused to let me speak to my brothers. I'm pretty sure they aren't going to show up tomorrow I actually think that they wish I was dead." JJ managed to get out before she started crying. As the sobs wracked her body she curled herself into Emily, burying her face in her neck and breathing in her scent, after her crying had calmed down some she fell asleep in Emily's arms clutching her shirt to ensure that the brunette wouldn't vanish. Emily traced her fingers along the blondes back sometimes random patterns and sometimes words.

JJ slept for almost three hours, and though she was awake entire time Emily had no desire to even move around let alone leave, When JJ began to mumble Emily tried to see her face but with the blonde tucked under her chin it was impossible.

"Believe in what?" JJ's voiced filled the silent room suddenly, causing Emily's hand to stop moving.

"Huh?" She said, shaking her head quickly.

"Believe in what? You've been writing believe on my back for at least the last fifteen minutes and I was wondering what it was you wanted me to believe in." JJ said rubbing her hand over her face before putting it back over Emily's stomach clutching her shirt again.

"Oh... I um... it's just what always helped me, having something to believe in. It's not always the same thing and sometimes you stop believing in some things I dunno I guess I just wanted you to understand that you could believe in yourself... and in me." Emily said looking up at the ceiling and running her hand along JJ's back again.

"I do believe in you Em, sometimes I struggle with believing in myself and other people, but you I believe in enough to trust with all my sad stories." JJ said lifting her head to look into Emily's eyes.

"Thank you," Emily said, "And I was thinking... if you wanted to obviously, you can come with me tomorrow... you know... for the holiday... if you wanted." Emily said hesitantly, looking up into JJ's blue eye's which had become darker when she started speaking. Emily swallowed not sure what it meant.

**I know I know but it just seemed unnatural for them to go straight from Emily's story to JJ's so I wrote this so that you could still find stuff out without it being one giant monologue again. Let me know what you think.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Thank you to all of my reviewers especially the ones who review every chapter! And also the people who get alerts (I'd like to know what you think as well even if it's only once). **

**As always I do not own Criminal Minds, and the story is unbeta'd but I do hope that you will enjoy it and let me know what you think**

"And I was thinking... if you wanted to obviously, you can come with me tomorrow... you know... for the holiday... if you wanted." Emily said hesitantly, looking up into JJ's blue eye's which had become darker when she started speaking. Emily swallowed not sure what it meant.

"Really? You're just going to take me home with you?" JJ asked, the corner of her lip turning up as she looked down into the brunette's eyes. "And what would the Ambassador say about you bringing home a girl you barely know, especially one not welcome in her own home." JJ said, hoping Emily would relax if she joked about the situation.

"I don't think she would mind all that much. And I'd like to believe I know enough about you that I wouldn't have to say I barely know you." Emily ran her hand along the side of JJ's face, tucking her hair behind her ear. "And it's just an offer, you don't have to come if you don't want to, but if you felt like spending the holidays with me I'd love to have you there." Emily continued earnestly.

"Well Miss Prentiss, if you are sure I would be honoured to spend the holidays with you." JJ said leaning down to place a kiss on Emily's cheek before resting her head back on the brunette's shoulder.

_Next Morning_

The girls said goodbye to their friends and after packing everything they would need for their three week break, they headed toward Emily's car.

"Jennifer hurry up! I don't have all day to sit around waiting for you." A man yelled from a car near Emily's.

"What?" JJ said looking over at the man and then back towards Emily. "Oh my god, it's my father." JJ said in a shaking voice.

"Jennifer!" The man yelled again.

The blonde who had stopped walking, turned towards the brunette, "I'm sorry Em, I have to go. I'll see you after the break." She said before walking quickly to the car and getting into the back with her stuff, not once did she look at back at the brunette who stood frozen to the pavement.

Emily didn't move for almost ten minutes by which time JJ had vanished into the car and the car had vanished from the school. She couldn't believe that JJ would just disappear like that, without even really saying goodbye. She eventually pulled herself together and dumped her stuff into the boot before getting in behind the wheel placing her handbag on the seat next to her. She sent messages to her mother and housekeeper; letting them know she was leaving and one to JJ saying she would miss her over the break.

Half way back to DC JJ had still not replied to her message. Emily stopped for petrol and food, but as she dug her wallet from her bag she found a fairly thick envelope inside her bag, an envelope she had not put there and as she pulled it out she found her name written across the front in JJ's unmistakable handwriting. Her hands shook as she opened the envelope to find multiple sheets of paper covered in writing; she pulled her car into the parking area and began to read.

_Emily_

_If you found this letter it means I'm not on my way to DC to spend the holidays with you, but rather have been dragged away back to East Alleghany. I hope you know I didn't have a choice and that I would much rather be in a car with you than whichever of my parents bothered to come fetch me. I hope that I didn't hurt you by just leaving with them, but they are my family Em and all I want is for them to accept me so I have to go back, even if I'll probably end up being miserable it's a chance I have to take. Anyway, I was going to tell you about Ashley while we were driving, since I'm obviously not there I thought I'd tell you this way._

_Ashley and I met when I first transferred, she was vice captain of the varsity soccer team. We became friends quite quickly; we spent a lot of time together. Last season she made captain and asked me to be her vice. During the season we spent almost all our time together and one day while we were sitting going over plays for an upcoming game she just leant over the table and kissed me, asked if would be more than just her best friend. I said yes immediately. We were both from small towns and we decided to keep our relationship private, I never even told Garcia. We were happy, I was happy, happier than I'd ever been because she filled this whole that I had never even known existed but could feel when we spent too much time apart. Everything was amazing, the team was doing well, school was good and we got to spend so much time together._

_The night before last year's final we were sitting under the tree, you know the one where you always find me? We had gone over everything for the final and were just lying together looking into the sky; Ash was telling me about her plans; for college, for life, for us. I told her I loved for the first time and she said it back, I felt like nothing could break us, like we would rule the world. That night I lost my virginity to the girl I loved, the girl I trusted to always be standing by my side. We woke up the next morning tangled together, and spent a moment enjoying the moment before all of the craziness started. She got more and more nervous because of the scouts she needed to impress but also because her parents were going to be at the game, it was the first time they saw her play._

_The whole team was amped; we were all feeding off each other's energy and the first half was amazing, we were 2-0 up by the time the whistle blew and we all ran into the change room convinced we were going to win, the coach gave us a speech about not fading now that we had the lead and everyone headed back out to the field. Just as we were heading out of the tunnel Ash grabbed my hand and pulled me back, she pressed me against the wall, she was grinning, "It's all coming true JJ, everything I dreamed about is starting tonight." she said, I spun us around so she was leaning against the wall and kissed her before someone started shouting..._

_It was her dad, he'd come to congratulate her, but instead he started shouting about hell and perverts, he condemned who we were and how we loved, it was horrible. When he walked away, she followed but she was back a minute later, her eyes red and her heart broken. She played the second half like she had nothing to lose like her life depended on it but she kept fouling the other team, the coach was threatening to pull her off and the ref was threatening to card her. The score was tied at 3-3 and the other team was about to score, Ash ran the length of the field to try and stop it but she took a misstep and tripped over the other players foot, Ash tore all of the tendons in her knee in the fall, when she hit the ground she was screaming, it was like someone had ripped her heart out right there on the field, the entire crowd was frozen and entire team felt broken. We lost the game, Ash lost her chance at a soccer scholarship and her parents had vanished. She committed suicide that night, the night all of her dreams were stolen from her. _

_It was me who found her, she had gone to the tree where we told each other we loved each other and she slit her wrists. There was so much blood Em, I didn't know what to do I started crying, screaming, begging for it to not be true and eventually people came running, they dragged me away from her body. I don't remember much except for the blood and the feeling of the hole inside me growing; people told me later that it was like I had frozen, I went from completely hysterical to motionless and mute. I woke up in hospital almost two days later. The funeral was the next day on the last day of school; her funeral was one year ago today._

_Her parents had come back to the school, to pack up her stuff and to hold the funeral. When I walked into the chapel for the service her father went ballistic screaming about how Ash was hell because of me. That's how the entire school found out I was gay, but worse than that it's how my parents found out. They had been sitting in the back, they were waiting to take me home for the holidays, but I only found out that they were there when they walked out of the chapel. They didn't say much, and we all got in the car to head home. Half way there my mom started talking about how it wasn't right, they hadn't raised me to be a sinner; she started preaching the Bible at me. They made me swear not to mention my 'condition' or Ashley in their house because they did not want me poisoning my brothers' minds. It was horrible to say the least and it hasn't got any better, my parents treat me like a pariah and my brothers' don't understand why. Every holiday I return home, but every time I feel less welcome than the time before but I always convince myself to go back, that this will be the time that everything changes, that this will be the time I get to be my dad's little girl or my mom's pride and joy... it hasn't happened yet._

_Ashley was the first person I trusted with everything I am and sometimes I hate her for leaving me behind, I'm afraid to get to close to anyone, because they always find a way to abandon me and I don't think I can lose anyone else Em, I don't think I could lose you. So yeah, that's pretty much my whole story and I'm so sorry that I told you this way, but I hope you can understand why I chose to. _

_I hope that you have an amazing holiday, and I hope you'll find a way to understand why I was so afraid to get close to you, but I want you to know that I'm tired of being afraid, I've let that day rule my life for a year and I want to find a way passed it, I can only hope you'll be the one standing next to me now._

_Jay_

Emily couldn't believe what she had read; she didn't understand how so many horrible things could happen in such a small space of time and to people who had done nothing to deserve that kind of cruelty. Emily had never been a big believer in God but now she found whatever little faith she did have left had been destroyed.

After sitting for awhile trying to wrap her mind around the story she got back into her car wishing that she could drive after JJ, wishing she could see the blonde, wishing she could wrap her in her arms. Emily eventually made it home, and had still heard nothing from JJ; she sent her another message telling her she had arrived and that she had read the letter. Three days later she had still not heard anything and had called Garcia to see if she knew anything, Garcia had told her that since last Christmas she had never received a message or call from JJ during the holidays. Emily worried constantly about the blonde, so much so that she showed very little enthusiasm when her parents arrived a few days before Christmas.

On the evening of the 23rd her phone started to ring and she almost flew off the couch in her hurry to answer it.

"Em, I need your help. They kicked me out; they packed all of my stuff in bags and threw me and everything I own out the front door." JJ was huddled by a payphone on the main road in East Alleghany surrounded by the four bags containing her almost her whole world.

Emily ran up the stairs firing questions to the blonde over the phone and shouting for her mother. Within twenty minutes Emily was sat in the passenger seat of her father's (since it was the fastest) car on her way out of DC and towards the small town in Pennsylvania. Her mother had asked questions and expressed doubts but she could see in Emily's eyes that this was something and someone very important and so she had sent her daughter to her room to grab a blanket and pillows before rushing down the stairs and grabbing her husband's car keys right from his hand, kissing him on the cheek, grabbing her bag and hurrying out the front door seconds only seconds behind her daughter, who was still gripping the phone to her ear.

**And so... Let me know... I know you want to and I can guarantee it'll take a lot less time than it took me to write this chapter**


	19. Chapter 19

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, got more than I have for any other chapter and I hope you'll continue letting me know what you think. And to CriminalmindsJJEmily I hope you enjoyed your birthday.**

**As always I do not own Criminal Minds, and the story is unbeta'd but I do hope that you will enjoy it and let me know what you think**

Emily spent most of the trip staring out of the side window, she bit her nails constantly as she thought back to the phone conversation she'd had with JJ,

"_Em, I need your help. They kicked me out; they packed all of my stuff in bags and threw me and everything I own out the front door." _

"_Where are you now? Are you ok? Did they hurt you?" Emily fired questions over the phone._

"_I'm ok, my mom slapped me Em, it stings but I'm fine. I'm at the payphone now, everything except the bar is shut and I've only got about $5 on me minus whatever this call costs. I don't have anywhere to go, I didn't know who else to call." Emily could hear the tears in the blonde's voice._

"_I'm coming to get you JJ. I'll be a few hours; I want you to go into the bar get yourself some food and have something to drink and I'll pay the tab when I get there. It's going to be ok JJ we'll figure something out. I promise I won't just leave you alone." Emily said as she ran frantically around her room gathering the stuff her mom mentioned, she didn't really understand why she needed a blanket but that wasn't really important right now._

"_Em, you can't drive out here now, it'll be almost midnight by the time you get here!" JJ argued._

"_What did you think I would do JJ? Of course I'm coming and no one is going to stop me." Emily said racing back down the stairs, seeing her mother taking her dad's keys and rushing out the door seconds behind her. "I'm getting in the car now Jay, we'll be there soon."_

"_Ok Em, I'm gonna go, I guess... I guess I'll see you when you get here." JJ said her voice wavering again, she had known when she phoned Emily that the brunette would try to help her, she hadn't expected her to rush out in the middle of the night though._

"_I'm coming Jay, just hold on." Emily said before an automated voice began talking, "If you wish to continue this call, please insert another 50 cents..." and then JJ was gone._

Elizabeth had been driving for almost two hours, having already gone though DC and Maryland, without her daughter muttering a word since she had hung up the phone, she had no idea who the girl was or why she was in trouble, the only information she had was that they were headed to East Alleghany, Pennsylvania to find somebody her daughter obviously cared a great deal for. She also had no idea what had prompted her to join her daughter on this impromptu mission when she knew that come morning her house would be swarming with people organising the annual dinner and now she may not be there to supervise. But as she sat behind the wheel of her husband's car, she understood that this was the only place she was meant to be in this moment and so she reached over the centre console taking hold of her daughter's hand, not asking questions or demanding explanations.

"Thank you Mom," she heard her daughter mutter as they continued through Pennsylvania. "You didn't have to come with me, you didn't even have to let me leave, but I'm really glad that you're here." Emily continued, still looking out of the window, but squeezing her mother's hand.

"Of course, Emily. I don't know what exactly is going on and I hope that eventually someone will explain but I can wait because I can see that this girl means a lot to you, and this is the most important place for me to be right now." Elizabeth answered looking away from the road and toward her daughter.

"She's um... we go to school together she's the captain of the varsity soccer team and a straight A student, she's trying to get a scholarship for college. Some really horrible things have happened to her and she is still this amazing person, but I think her parents are really old fashioned, they don't really understand her or the choices she makes." Emily finally looked towards her mother. "They think she's going to hell for being who she is and they don't want her poisoning her brothers' minds, I guess this time they kicked her out instead of treating her like a pariah. I don't get it mom... I mean when I told you I was gay, I was worried about how you would react and what you would think but the idea that you would disown me because of it..." Emily swallowed, "I mean I considered it for a moment, but I never believed that someone would do that, it's just, she hasn't done anything wrong, and, she's being punished anyway. It's not right."

Elizabeth looked towards her daughter, it had been a long time since Emily came to her seeking answers and she wasn't sure what to say, "I don't know Emily, a lot of people can't see past their own beliefs to understand another person's point of view, some people can't change what they believe because of the way it is ingrained in them, that everything is wrong or right and in many cases that the Bible is the law. East Alleghany, I assume is a small town, most of the people that live there have probably never left and so all they know is what they learnt from their neighbours, their school and their church."

"But she is their daughter..." Emily said, as if that was the only thing that should matter.

"I know sweetheart, sometimes that's not enough though." Elizabeth said sadly, squeezing her daughter's hand again. They rode in silence the rest of the way, pulling into the small town at eleven fifteen, Emily had said JJ was waiting at the bar and Elizabeth was about to ask where it was when she noticed that the town only had one street that was not surrounded by houses and so they found the bar easily enough situated at the end of the main road.

The car had barely stopped before Emily was out and rushing through the front door. She stopped in the entrance sweeping the whole room before spotting the blonde head of hair in one of the back booths and moving quickly in that direction.

"Jay..." she said skidding to stop, noticing the tear tracks still evident on her friend's cheeks along with the faint hand print. "Oh god, are you ok?" she asked sitting down and pulling her friend toward her.

"Yeah, I'm ok I guess, considering just how delightful this day has been." She said tucking her head under Emily's chin and breathing in the comforting smell of her friend, lilies and the ever present faint smell of chlorine. "How did you get here so fast?" she asked when she realised that it should have taken at least another half hour for the brunette to arrive.

"Fast cars and no speeding fines. It's one of the major perks of being an Ambassador." The two girls looked up to see Elizabeth standing at the end of the table, "Hello dear, I'm Emily's mother but you can call me Elizabeth." She said.

JJ's head shot off Emily's shoulder, "Am... Ambassador Prentiss." She stuttered wiping her face, and praying she didn't look as horrible as she felt, "It's a pleasure to meet you Ma'am." She continued, trying to stand up from the booth.

"Relax dear," Elizabeth continued, "I'm not an Ambassador tonight, but I do have a question. How's the coffee in this place?" she asked moving some of JJ's bags, which were occupying the booth on the other side of the table, so that she could sit down across from the two girls.

**Let me know, let me know**


	20. Chapter 20

**Thank you to all my reviewers, you are all really awesome. Keep it up.**

**As always I do not own Criminal Minds, and the story is unbeta'd but I do hope that you will enjoy it and let me know what you think**

"_Relax dear," Elizabeth continued, "I'm not an Ambassador tonight, but I do have a question. How's the coffee in this place?" she asked moving some of JJ's bags, which were occupying the booth on the other side of the table, so that she could sit down across from the two girls._

"It's pretty good I guess. It's pretty strong though." JJ said, trying to recover from the shock of the woman's presence.

"Well that sounds good to me," she indicated to the waiter she would like three cups of coffee before looking back at the two girls. Her daughter had her arm wrapped around the blonde's shoulders playing with a few strands of blonde hair while the blonde fiddled with the fingers of her daughter's other hand. She found it interesting that the two girls seemed completely unaware of how they were touching.

"So what happens now?" Emily asked looking between the blonde and her mother, she had no idea what would happen now that they'd reached the blonde.

"Well we can either find a hotel and spend the night here, or we can go back home now and we'll get there in a few hours, since tomorrow is Christmas Eve I think we can all just enjoy ourselves for a few days before we figure out what we're going to do." Elizabeth looked at the blonde, "what would you prefer?"

Emily interrupted before JJ got a chance to open her mouth, "But Mother, surely we can't just leave, JJ is technically still a minor..."

"Are you suggesting we leave her here Emily?" Elizabeth asked.

"NO! Of course not, but can't... what if... and the dinner tomorrow? Can she really come home with us?" Emily asked, squeezing the girl next to her.

"I'm sure your father can manage to organise most things, and we can be back in time to actually get some sleep and fix whatever he did wrong before our guests arrive. So Miss Jareau what do you say to an authentic Prentiss Christmas and we'll work out everything else." Elizabeth said.

"What about school... and everything, I've got no family, no money, all I have is a couple of friends and four bags of stuff from a life I think I'd prefer to forget." JJ said looking back at the woman.

"Well from what I hear you're a good friend, an intelligent person and recently got offered a few college scholarships; I think that you'll be okay." Elizabeth said and after paying the bill the three stood and she pulled the blonde girl around to face her again, "And you'll never be alone, that I can promise you." She squeezed her shoulder and grabbed one of the bags while the girls grabbed the others. As they walked outside JJ gasped at the car sitting in the parking lot and noticed a group of men stood admiring it. When the Ambassador unlocked the doors and opened the boot to throw in the first bag the men all stared at her and when the two girls arrived to add the others JJ finally noticed one of the men in the group was her father. He didn't say a single word as he noticed his daughter, he just walked away, and JJ felt another tear break free and roll down her cheek before Emily opened the back door and pulled her in with her.

Nobody said much on the drive back to DC and eventually the two girls fell asleep in the back with JJ's head in Emily's lap and covered in the blanket from the brunette's bedroom. As Elizabeth pulled into the driveway Emily stirred but JJ was still in a deep sleep. Emily lifted JJ out of the car, thankful for the lifetime of physical activity which allowed her to do so, but as she came to the stairs and struggled to make it up the front door opened and her father rushed out taking the blonde from her arms and carrying her inside the house up to his daughter's bedroom.

The Prentiss women carried in the bags and then as Emily headed to one of the spare rooms to get a few hours of sleep her mother stopped her, "You should stay with her tonight."

"But you always said I was never to share a room with a boy, I assumed the same would apply to girls now." Emily said confused.

"Yes I suppose it should, but that girl does not need to be waking up alone in an unfamiliar place. Tomorrow we can live by the rules, for now we should all get some rest it's been a long day and there is going to be a lot happening over the next few days." Elizabeth said pushing Emily back towards her own bedroom. "Goodnight Emily."

"Goodnight Mom..." Emily said turning to wrap her arms around her Mother's waist, "Thank you, for coming with me, for everything." She said before slipping into her room and into the bed that held the blonde, she smiled as she lay on her back and JJ rolled over to wrap an arm around her stomach and rest her head on her shoulder.

_Next Morning_

JJ had woken up relatively early to find herself wrapped around the brunette, after lying there for a few minutes; she pressed her lips against Emily's forehead before leaving the warmth of the bed. After going to the bathroom and looking around the room JJ put on warmer clothes and headed out the door. What she found was overwhelming for the small town girl, the house was much bigger than she had ever imagined as she approached the staircase she looked over the banister and found a sea of people walking in every direction, carrying furniture, food and decorations. Unsure what to do she was about to turn and head back to Emily's room when a man at the bottom of the stairs called out, "Good morning Miss Jareau."

JJ stopped, "Um... Good morning... Sir." She answered hesitantly as she turned back to look down at him.

"I'm Emily's father, Alexander Prentiss, but please call me Alex. Did you sleep well?" he asked.

"Yes I did thank you. It's a pleasure to meet you Sir, and please call me JJ." She said starting down the stairway.

"As is it a pleasure to meet you. As you can see the house is in complete chaos, and with my wife sleeping in I am tasked with creating order, however there is breakfast available if you would like. The kitchen is through that door; just ask for Louise and she will make whatever you like." Alex said pointing out one of the doors along the corridor next to the stairs.

"Shouldn't I wait for Emily and the Ambassador?" JJ asked not moving from her spot.

"Well you can if you wish, however it is not necessary. Besides its far more calm in there in the kitchen than out here." He said winking at the blonde and laughing as two men carrying tables almost collided with a statue. "Careful boys." He says, "Sorry Mr Prentiss." They respond as they continue into the house.

"Hmm... Morning." They hear someone say through a yawn from the top of the stairs.

"Now Emily, what would your mother say about such a greeting?" Alex said, looking up at his half asleep daughter.

"But it's Christmas, and early... didn't get much sleep. Good morning Daddy." She said walking down the stairs and kissing him on the cheek.

"Good morning dear, why don't you take this fine young lady to the kitchen for some breakfast and enjoy the peace for a few moments before your mother wakes up and starts handing out orders.

"I can do that." She said before grabbing the blonde's hand and heading to the kitchen. Emily pulled over two of the stools to sit at the counter rather than the table. JJ frowned, wondering what she was up to, "I always love watching Louise cook, she makes it look so easy and it always tastes amazing." Emily said before leading JJ to one of the stools and placing a gentle kiss on her cheek after she had sat down. "oh and don't worry if my mom seems a lot scarier today, she likes being in control with preparing stuff like this and goes in to Ambassador mode to make sure everything is perfect."

"Why young Emily who is your beautiful friend and where have you been hiding her?" An older woman called from across the kitchen making her way towards them. JJ blushed while Emily just shook her head.

"Welcome to the crazy Prentiss Christmas." She laughed before sitting in her own chair.

**Let me know what you think.**

**I also just wanted to let you know that there are only a few chapters left of this story, otherwise it's just gonna drag along with nothing really happening. But I hope you'll all stick around till the end**


	21. Chapter 21

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and also to those of you who favourite either myself or the story. You're all awesome**

**As always I do not own Criminal Minds, and the story is unbeta'd but I do hope that you will enjoy it and let me know what you think**

The two girls talked and laughed with Louise in the kitchen while they ate their breakfast, Louise told embarrassing stories about Emily growing up while Emily complained and blushed profusely eventually dragging the, still chuckling, blonde out of the kitchen and back into the chaos.

"Aah girls there you are." Elizabeth said, now standing at the base of stair directing everybody to the correct places. "Emily, I need you two to go and pick up the gifts from the jeweller and while you're out you will both need to get outfits for tonight so I called Sandra and she's waiting for you." Elizabeth said before turning to a man carrying an array of napkins.

"Ok, we're just gonna go shower and then we'll go. Call my cellphone if there is anything else." Emily said before dragging JJ up the stairs by the hand. "Oh and Emily, get JJ a new phone while you're out." "Ok Mom, see you later." She answered continuing to her room.

Emily continued into her room and began rummaging through her closet for something to wear, once she'd found everything she needed she turned to find JJ standing in the doorway fidgeting and looking at the floor. Emily dropped her clothes on the floor before taking the blondes hand and leading her to sit on the bed.

"What is it JJ?" she asked playing with the blondes fingers.

"I... um, it's just that well... what is gonna happen now Em?" JJ asked looking into the brunette's eyes, "What am I going to do; I've got no money and apparently no family either. I'm scared Em. I know your mom said we would work it out after Christmas, but I don't see how. And your parents they've been really amazing but it's not like I can stay here forever and your mom was talking about buying clothes for tonight and cellphone like it was no big deal, and how am I meant to repay them for that, for rescuing me in the middle of the night when they don't even know me." A tear trailed down the blonde's cheek before Emily caught it with her thumb.

"They don't expect you to pay them back JJ, they know that you can't and they would never ask you to. I can't imagine what it feels like so I'm not going to try to placate you but I can tell you this; that my parents aren't going to just kick you out one day and expect you to fend for yourself and I can be your family; me and Garcia and Morgan and Reid, we'll always be your family." Emily leaned forward to press her lips softly against the blonde's, "I promise you, you will never be alone." She whispered as she pulled back. "And for today, we're going to get fancy dresses and uncomfortable shoes so that we can be shown off tonight to a lot of important people whose names you don't need to remember. I know you're scared, and it's ok because everyone gets scared, just remembered that I'm right here and I'll do everything I can to prevent you ever getting hurt again."

"Thank you Em, for everything, you have no idea how much it means to me, that you came and got me, that you brought me here and that you aren't running away. All of this, it's a lot to deal with, and I'm so glad that it's you here with me." JJ said before she leaned forward and kissed Emily, this kiss was stronger than the last as the two girls tried to express the things they could not explain with words and they only pulled apart once their lungs began burning for air with Emily having fallen onto her back with JJ straddling her waist, her long blonde hair forming a curtain that blocked out the rest of the world. "You're a special kind of person Emily Prentiss," JJ said leaning down to brush her lips softly over Emily's, "and I wanted to ask if you would be mine, if you would let me be yours? Because I don't know what might have happened if I had never met you and I don't ever want to know what'll happen if you're not around." JJ said as she looked into Emily's eyes, watching the emotions swirl through the dark depths as she waited for her to speak.

"I would be honoured to call you mine; in fact I think that may be the best Christmas present I have ever received." She answered grinning as she pulled the blonde back down, connecting their lips once more. Emily couldn't believe the way it felt when JJ had asked her to be her girlfriend, or the way it felt as though a faint electrical current was racing through her entire body as JJ ran her tongue along Emily's bottom lip, seeking entrance into her mouth. She eventually managed to pull herself away and remembered that they were supposed to have left already and so she sat up, pushing JJ's upper body along with her before reminding her of that fact.

"Come on, let's go get you a pretty dress, so I can show you off, a cellphone so you can call Garcia before she tells the cops you've been abducted by aliens and then we can go swimming for a while before we have to get ready." JJ looked a little nervous about the prospect of a fancy dinner in a room full of powerful people so Emily tried to reassure her, "Come on, it'll be just like playing dress up!" she grinned. JJ stood reluctantly from Emily's lap and made the cutest pouting face Emily had ever seen before mumbling, "But I never played dress up..."

**So tell me what you think...please**


	22. Chapter 22

**Have I ever told you I have the best reviewers... well I do... you are my awesome few and I appreciate your comments a lot.**

**Gimini523: I will try my best to explain what happened at JJ's house, during her talk with Emily's parents**

**As always I do not own Criminal Minds, and the story is unbeta'd but I do hope that you will enjoy it and let me know what you think**

After visiting the jeweller and the cellphone store the two girls spent over an hour in the dress store picking their dresses and shoes while seamstress did one or two small alterations before they headed back to the Prentiss estate. With almost everything prepared the girls carried all of the gifts into the house before rushing out to the pool to relax for a while before they had to get ready.

"So what is tonight really gonna be like?" JJ asked trying to distract herself from the way she felt seeing Emily in a small black bikini. But as she unwrapped her towel from around her body and turned to face the brunette again, this time however she could not hide the way she felt as she noticed the way that Emily was looking at her she walked towards her and wrapped her arms around the other girls waist marvelling at the way her pale skin seemed to radiate warmth while Emily's arms snaked around her neck pulling her closer. "Well," she answered, "it'll be very civil, everyone is very polite to when they are all together, they discuss their achievements; trying to prove which of them is the best, the richest, the most successful. We'll be sitting at the main table with my parents, the Secretary of Foreign Relations and this year's guest of honour as well as their families. We'll most likely be introduced to all of the eligible young men there, people trying to make connections and form networks and such. Unfortunately my parents will be some of the most important people here tonight so I often get people introducing me to their sons in an attempt to get closer to my parents." Emily noticed that JJ seemed to be getting more and more nervous, "But you don't have to worry, as long as you can resist the urge to roll your eyes you'll be fine, I promise you the furthest that these things usually go is an incredibly mundane or awkward conversation. And I will try my best not to leave you alone too much however I will have to make the rounds greeting everybody; you could probably come with if you wanted." Emily smiled at the blonde before stealing a quick kiss and jumping into the pool.

The evening went well for everybody, the two girls looked beautiful and spent as much of the night as possible in each other's company, sometimes talking to one another and sometimes to some of the guests who had met her before or came over to introduce their sons. They danced with a few people, because it was polite not because they wanted to, and tried not to blush whenever Emily's parents spoke about them, JJ was very surprised to hear the Ambassador talking about her soccer achievements to a few of the other diplomats, she'd never heard anyone aside from her coaches talk about the things she'd achieved with any kind of pride. JJ had worried constantly that she would mess up, but she managed to make it through the formal dinner as well as all of the social intricacies without embarrassing herself and the Prentiss's completely. Eventually after all of the guests had left Emily's parents retired to their room and the girls walked into Emily's room Elizabeth stuck her head though the door, "Thank you so much for everything today girls, sleep well. We'll see you in the morning." She moved to leave but then stopped again, "And Emily, Louise made up the guest room this morning..." she said smirking at her daughter before closing the door.

Emily blushed as she looked at the blonde who was stuck halfway between being shocked speechless and laughing resulting in her standing there with her eyes wide and her mouth opening and closing silently causing Emily to laugh, "JJ?" she asked.

"Does she know... she thinks we're gonna... what?" JJ sputtered.

Emily walked towards her wrapping the blonde in her arms, "JJ relax, it's always been a rule that boy's weren't allowed to stay in here, now it applies to girls." She stroked her thumb over JJ's cheek, "Hey, it's not a big deal. You sleep in here and I'll just be next door ok? I'll see you in the morning." She said kissing the blonde on the cheek and grabbing her pyjamas before walking out the door.

_Next Morning_

Emily woke up early the next morning, fuelled by her excitement over the holiday as well as having her parents and JJ there. She snuck out of the room she'd been sleeping in and into her own where her new girlfriend was still fast asleep and wrapped around a pillow, instead of quietly getting her clothes and going to shower she decided to pounce on the unsuspecting blonde resulting in a fairly high pitched scream. JJ pushed the brunette off the top of her causing her to roll to the side laughing hysterically.

"You think you're funny huh?" JJ asked as she rolled on top of Emily and began to tickle her, "What are you gonna do now?" she asked as Emily began squirming, "come on, fight back." She challenged.

"Girls!" The two teenagers froze, "Breakfast will be ready in half an hour." They heard Emily's dad shout through the doorway before his footsteps trailed off down the passage. "Well I guess that means we should get up." JJ said sitting up, still positioned on top of the brunette. "I guess so, are you gonna let me up or should we wait for one of my parents to find you straddling me?" Emily smirked as JJ shot off her lap before standing herself. She pecked JJ softly on the lips before she headed towards the bathroom.

After enjoying the incredible breakfast that Alex Prentiss had made the foursome settled into the lounge opening the presents that were under the tree, some were gifts from the previous night's guests and others came from Emily's parents and Emily herself. JJ had tried to get out of the room so that the family could enjoy themselves alone but all three Prentiss's had insisted she stay. JJ had been very surprised when Emily produced several presents with her name on them and she opened the presents slowly, fighting the urge not to cry when she received a beautiful jersey from her girlfriend and chocolate and candles from Emily's parents. JJ began to feel more and more guilty as she received her presents knowing that she had none to offer in return, not even one for her girlfriend eventually after sitting quietly for a long time she bolted from the room with tears pouring from her eyes. Emily, after a quick statement from her mother, was not far behind her.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Emily asked as she sat down next to the blonde pulling her into her arms.

"I never got you anything, I didn't... and then you got me that beautiful jersey, and even your parents... and I didn't get anyone anything." She mumbled into the brunette's shoulder.

"I told you before Jay, they don't expect anything from you, you didn't do anything wrong. But if it'll make you feel better my mom does want to talk to us about what is going to happen now. But we'll only go back down when you're ready, I'm sure that they have already gone in search of coffee so you don't have to rush." Emily said, "They just wanted to get you a few things since it is Christmas after all, and I saw that jersey a few days ago and I knew that I wanted to see you in it that's all."

"Ok, can we just sit here for a few more minutes? You know before we go down there and I have to face everything." JJ asked still tucked under Emily's chin seeking the comfort she had found in Emily's scent since telling her about Ashley.

"Yeah Jay, we can hang out here for a while." Emily said running her hands through JJ's hair.

**Tell me what you think**

**And I actually don't know how many more chapters are left but I'm gonna go with less than five at this point**


	23. Chapter 23

**Thank you again to my amazing reviewers, I always like to know what you have to say**

**As always I do not own Criminal Minds, and the story is unbeta'd but I do hope that you will enjoy it and let me know what you think**

The girls sat on Emily's bed quietly for a while, they didn't speak, just sitting together with JJ resting her head on Emily's shoulder while the brunette played with her fingers drawing patterns over the back of her hand and waited for the blonde to put herself back together. Eventually JJ stood up and pulled Emily up by her hand before leading her back down stairs, she stopped at the bottom of the stairs and took in a deep breath before walking back into the room where Emily's parent s were sitting.

"Sorry about that." JJ said to the two adults as she sat down as close to the brunette as she could without sitting on top of her.

"It's not a problem dear, are you feeling ok now?" Alex asked.

"Yes, I'll be ok thanks." The blonde answered.

"Ok well we wanted to talk to you but if you'd prefer we can do it later." Elizabeth spoke.

"No, can we do it now. I need to know what is going to happen to me now."

"Well, that depends on a few things actually, since you are seventeen the state considers you to still be a minor but they aren't likely to put you into foster care since most kids leave at the age of sixteen. Technically your parents will be your legal guardians until you are eighteen," JJ flinched at that, "so they can technically make you move back," JJ grabbed onto Emily's hand as if somebody was about to come and drag her away, "however I do not think that will be an issue since you will be returning to school in a week and your next holiday will be after your eighteenth birthday it will be your decision whether or not to return to East Alleghany. If you would like though, you are more than welcome to return here with Emily for all of your holidays. Emily mentioned that you were on a full scholarship which means that even if your parents try to take you out of the school we may be able to prevent it since they aren't paying for you to be there and it could be considered detrimental towards you. As for college depending on what kind of offers you get and where you decide to go, we'll figure out the rest." Elizabeth paused in her explanation to ensure the blonde understood.

"So basically I don't have to see them again if I don't want to, assuming that they try to get me back in the first place." JJ tried to understand, "But I don't have any money, I can't just expect you to pay for everything I need that isn't covered by my scholarship, it's not fair to you, to suddenly have to support someone else's child because they don't want to, I can't ask you to do that, I won't ask you to do that." JJ said. "And after I graduate

"You aren't asking, we are offering. And we know that it isn't fair, it's not fair that you have been forced out of your home, forced to find another way to survive from one day to the next. We don't know you very well JJ but there are a few things that we do, you're obviously intelligent and you've worked hard for the things that you've achieved so I don't think they should be taken away from you, you have a future ahead of you and from what I've heard quite a bright one but the most important thing I know is that nothing would have stopped my daughter from getting to you the other night, and since she is not somebody who gets attached easily or often I know you are someone who means a lot to her, someone worthy of trust, of respect, of love and at the very least a place to call your home. And after you graduate it's up to you what happens next." Elizabeth said as she stood up from her seat and moved to sit on the other side of the blonde who now had tears running down her face but seemed completely unaware of it. "You will always be welcome in this house and in this family." She continued as she held onto the blonde's chin so she would have to look at her.

"You know?" the blonde asks a little stunned.

"I've always been one of the few people who could tell how Emily feels even when she tries to hide it." Elizabeth smirked at her daughter who was now sporting bright red cheeks before looking back at the blonde.

"And you have no problem with your daughter being with the girl with no home and no family?" she asked doubtfully.

"I have no problem with my daughter being with you and everything that you are." Elizabeth answered wiping tears from the blonde's cheeks.

"But if we're together, you're really ok with me coming back here during the holidays? Because I don't think I can go back to my parents house, I'd like to believe that one day I'll be able to explain what happened to my brother's but they are too young to understand, I want them to know that I didn't just leave. Until then, I don't think I could ever go back, not now, not knowing that they might do this again one day." JJ said, wondering what her brother's would think about her just disappearing without saying anything, she worried that by the time she got the chance to explain it would be too late.

"Well then you are welcome here for as long as you need or want." Elizabeth smiled at the blonde who managed a small smile of her own through the last few tears still leaking from her eyes.

"Thank you. For everything." JJ said as she surprised Elizabeth by wrapping her arms around her shoulders and hugging her tightly.

"It is my greatest pleasure." Elizabeth replied putting her arms around the blonde and patting her on the back.

"Thank you mom," Emily spoke for the first time, "just... thank you." She repeated as she wrapped her own arms around both JJ and her mother.

**Tell me what you think**


	24. Chapter 24

**Sorry this took so long but even during though it's only the first week, varsity seems to take up a lot of time.**

**As always I do not own Criminal Minds, and the story is unbeta'd but I do hope that you will enjoy it and let me know what you think**

The two girls savoured the week between Christmas and their return to school, Emily's parents left for Italy on Boxing Day as they were expected at a New Year's Eve dinner being held by the Italian president. When Emily learned that JJ had only been to Washington once on a school trip she took it upon herself to show her girlfriend all of the best things about the city, they visited all of the major landmarks, walking along the Mall holding hands while Emily told stories of coming here as a child and waiting for hours to see if she could spot the President. They visited the Smithsonian, starting at the Space and Aeronautical where Emily pointed out some of the constellations which represented her favourite stories from Greek mythology and eventually reaching the botanical gardens where Emily stood watching in wonder at the joy radiating off her girlfriends face as she was surrounded by butterflies in every shape and colour.

"Come on Em, this is amazing!" the blonde called from where she was standing.

"I'm good Jay, enjoy yourself." Emily called back, in that moment wishing she had her camera so she could capture the look on the blondes face, she was stunning, Emily thought. After spending a few minutes chasing butterflies in the same way a small child would JJ dragged Emily through all of the displays and marvelled at the different kinds of butterflies before deciding they could leave, what she had not expected was for her girlfriend to pull her into the gift shop and buy her one of the pressed butterflies that were for sale. She kissed her quickly, since they were in public, before grabbing her gift tightly in one hand and Emily in the other and leaving the store. Emily took JJ to her favourite restaurant for lunch and then to the best ice-cream parlour for dessert, the girls spent every waking moment with each other and JJ began to heal from the loss of her family.

The morning that they headed back to school Emily noticed that JJ was a lot quieter than usual but decided to let her be until she was ready to talk. They said goodbye to Louise after packing everything in the car and then headed out of DC and back to school, they were about halfway into the trip before JJ started speaking again and even then it was mostly small talk to fill the silence.

JJ could tell Emily was worried about her but was incredibly grateful to the brunette for not mentioning her sudden change in behaviour as she tried to calm the worry that had erupted inside her with the knowledge that she would be returning to school and would most likely have to explain what had happened more than once, she just hoped she would have a few days to settle down before she could find a way to bring it up on her own terms. So as Emily turned her car through the school gates JJ grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly before saying quietly, "I'm ok." and smiling gently at the brunette.

But instead of a few days, she barely had enough time to get out of the car as she saw Garcia racing towards them, her expression a mixture of fear, confusion and anger.

"Where the hell have you been?" she demanded as she came to a stop in front of Emily's car. "And how did you to end up together when you live hundreds of miles apart! I have sent messages and tried to call but I get no answer, I called your house and whoever answered said you weren't there and weren't coming back! Reid and Morgan haven't heard from either of you all break! And then the Dean comes and asks where you are and tells me he wants to see you as soon as you arrive! So somebody better start..."

"Garcia stop!" Emily yelled at the ranting blonde who had continued shouting barely even looking at the other two girls until she had been interrupted at which point she found Emily standing next to JJ, instead of on the other side of the car, holding her hand and telling her to breath as JJ appeared to be having some kind of panic attack.

"What's going on?" she asked, suddenly more worried than angry.

"Jay breathe, come on sweetie its ok, just breathe Jay." Emily spoke into JJ's ear as she traced patterns on her back while JJ gripped the back of her shirt with one hand and placed the other over her heart trying to match their breathing so she could calm herself down. She knew that Garcia was still watching them and that a constant stream of cars were coming and going as more students were dropped off or parking themselves but she couldn't bring herself to care about that right now as Garcia's endless stream of questions filtered through her mind and she realised she hadn't spoken to any of her friends in two weeks nor had she given any of them her new phone number leaving them all in the dark. After her breathing had mostly gone back to normal she took one last deep breath, soaking in Emily's smell before stepping back to look at her friend.

"I'm sorry Garcia. I meant to give you my new number and stuff, but everything was kind of crazy and I forgot, I'm sorry I got you so worried. Everything is fine and I promise I'll explain, so can you go grab Morgan and Reid and I'll meet you there after I see the Dean ok?" JJ said trying to reassure the blonde who had gotten quite upset during her prolonged silence.

Garcia eyed Emily who was still standing in the same spot, now behind JJ, "Yeah ok, I guess." She said doubtfully before shooting a glare at Emily and turning around.

Emily snorted, "Well that was fun, why was she looking at me like that." She asked confused about the other blonde's reaction to her presence.

"She's probably just jealous," Emily gaped at JJ, "I mean because you already know what's going on and she is still in the dark, Garcia doesn't like it when one of her friends is hurting, she likes it even less when she doesn't know why." JJ explained grabbing Emily's hand, "Don't worry she'll get over it pretty quick."

"If you say so." Emily said doubtfully, "Do you um... do you want me to... I just thought that... " Emily stumbled a few times before JJ put a finger over her lips, "Yes Em I want you to come with me to see the Dean, mostly so that I won't be alone but also cause they might want to talk to you and your parents depending on what they already know." JJ said getting nervous again, "Come on; let's get this over with."

After spending over an hour in the Dean's office, listening to him explain that my parents had phoned and made up some stupid story that basically ended in me not coming back to school because I had a drug problem and had run away Emily and I explain what had happened, leaving out some of the more private parts of the story, the Dean had called Emily's parents who had agreed with our version of the story. Eventually the Dean had reluctantly agreed and said it would not be an issue unless my parents tried to make it one. We eventually managed to escape his office, breathing a sigh of relief before we remembered what was awaiting us in Emily's room.

After Emily and I entered the room and sat on her bed with her behind me and me resting my head on her chest, they looked at us quizzically before a wicked smirk formed on Garcia's lips but nobody said anything about it, I told my friends everything that had happened over the break; they were outraged by what my parents had done and Morgan even threatened to beat them up if they ever came near me again. After the tears and anger I explained everything that had happened in DC and everybody sighed in relief when I told them I wouldn't have to leave and I wasn't going to become a homeless orphan, although Garcia did offer to hide me under her bed, relief turned to joy (and smugness from Garcia) when I told them that Emily and were a couple and after I had finished talking the room lapsed into silence as they all processed what had happened and Emily drew patterns over the skin on my arms. Every now and then someone, mostly Reid, would ask a question as they tried to work out all of the details before Garcia eventually changed the subject to the gossip she had heard since her return and the mood in the room lifted to a point where it felt almost like before, before the best and worst Christmas break of my life.

**Tell me what you think.**

**I will be posting an epilogue as soon as it's finished, I hope that you all enjoyed my story.**


	25. Chapter 25

**So this is the final chapter, I hope you all enjoy it.**

**And thank you to everybody who ever reviewed/favourite, it means a lot, especially everyone who reviewed after each chapter you are especially awesome!**

**As always I do not own Criminal Minds, and the story is unbeta'd but I do hope that you will enjoy it and let me know what you think.**

Emily stood at the podium and took a deep breath before she began to speak, "Today everything changes..." Although she was not the valedictorian Reid had asked her to give the speech in his place, he chose rather to sit in the front row with a giant grin on his face. Emily understood why he did it, and was honoured to take his place. As she spoke, her mind filled with moments from their senior year...

_She and JJ sat on her bed with two piles of unopened mail in between them, "Whatever happens, we'll find a way to stay together." Emily promised the blonde before they both began to open and read the letters bearing their names, they understood that they might not get into the same colleges, but they had also promised each other not to give up on their own dreams. But as she ripped open the last letter, she prayed they would not be forced to separate. She looked up into blue eyes swirling with hope and fear before she spoke, "So, what you got?" she asked shakily. "BCU, Penn State, Miami, USC, NYU and Georgetown. All full or partial scholarships. You?" She asked, praying that they would have two that matched or were at least close together._

"_Harvard, Columbia, Chicago..." she paused to grin at her girlfriend, "USC and Georgetown!" she cried before launching herself at her girlfriend, crushing all of the letters which lay between them..._

Emily smiled at the memory as she continued her speech and began searching the crowd for those same blue eyes. After many hours spent discussing their options, between themselves and with Emily's parents, the two girls chose to go to New York, JJ at NYU and Emily at Columbia. Garcia and Reid had both gotten into Caltech and Morgan had gotten a football scholarship to UCLA.

_The three girls cheered from the bleachers, Reid was on the bench acting as a sort of tactical coach for the team and helping them win, watching the last quarter of the game as Morgan tackled one of the players from the other team preventing another touchdown. There had been a moment during the game when Morgan himself had been tackled and hadn't been able to stand up by himself, Garcia sat in the bleachers shaking with worry as her boyfriend was helped off the field but then had been the loudest to cheer when he returned for the final play of the game. Afterward he had been offered scholarships to UCLA and Miami, choosing California so he could be closer to Garcia... and Reid._

As Emily finished her speech and the Dean came up to say a few words, Emily headed back to her seat, shooting a wink at the young genius as she passed him. Overall she had had an amazing year, her and her mother were talking more, she felt less resentment to her parents when they were away and had been able to see them more often, she had three amazing friends that she planned to keep for as long as possible and a girlfriend whom she loved and planned to hold onto forever.

JJ's parents had never tried to contact her and though she had been upset for a long time she knew that it was better this way than if they had had stuck around trying to change her, hating her for who she is. She still missed her family, her brothers especially and worried about what they would think of her, but for now she understood that there was nothing she could do but wait until they were older, until she could have a chance to tell them that she had not just left, and forgotten about them. In fact she carried a picture of them in her wallet, taken on the day they won their first little league game; she planned to keep that picture until she had a chance to take a new one.

_**Five Years Later**_

Standing in a line of people dressed identically in black caps and gowns stood a blonde with a mixed look of confusion, worry and upset as she fiddle with the sparkly new ring on her hand and pondered a message sent to her earlier. _Late._ _Go without me. I'm so proud of you. Love Em._ She shuffled along in the queue as more names were called as she began to climb the stairs she searched the sea of faces for the messenger. As she glanced over the audience she was easily able to spot a woman with pink streaks in her hair waving frantically, sitting next to her was a handsome man with dark skin and bald head next came the young man dressed in a scarf and sweater, his hair hanging around his shoulders, next she found the person she was searching for, her dark hair shining in the sun and her eyes twinkling with pride... and something else. As she looked to the side of the brunette she frowned when she noticed two strangers sitting between the brunette and her parents, however before she had time to work out who they were or what they really looked like her name was called and she shifted her focus to cross the stage and collect the piece of paper that validated the last few years of hard work. She smiled proudly as she shook the Deans hand, everybody she cared about was here to support her today as she got her Honours degree in Journalism and Communication, "You are meant for great things Jennifer." He said before passing her the scroll, "Thank you Sir." She replied before walking off the stage to take her seat. She wondered about the people sitting with her friends, her family, but quickly brushed it off assuming they had come with Ambassador and Mr Prentiss.

After all of the speeches and formalities had ended the blonde went in search of her family, launching herself into the arms of her fiancée, "Where were you, I was worried, and that message was pretty much the definition of vague." She demanded. "I'm so sorry babe but I had to organise something and it couldn't wait." Emily apologised, speaking into the blondes ears as she kept her arms wrapped tightly around her back. "But I never would have missed this, not for anything." She said, placing a kiss on JJ's cheek. "Thank you Em, I mean I know that I did this for myself and I'm proud of what I've achieved, but today when I looked into that crowd and saw the look on your face, on the faces of all the people who helped me get here, there is nothing in my life that could match that feeling." JJ said looking into the brown eyes that were looking straight back into her soul. "I love you JJ, come on lets go say hello to everyone else." Emily said and JJ noticed the hint of nerves in the brunette's voice as they turned to find everyone standing behind them.

"My Pennsylvania Princess, we're so proud of you!" Garcia squealed. JJ laughed into the mess of blonde hair now covering her face, "Thank you Garcia, and thanks for com..." she paused as she heard a vaguely familiar voice come from next to her, "Pennsylvania princess?" the voice said.

"I have found that in the case of Miss Garcia its best not to ask questions." She heard Elizabeth's amused voice before she turned to look at the person to whom the voice belonged. Two teenage boys stood in front of her; one with blonde hair and brown eyes the other with dark hair and bright blue eyes.

"Oh... my... god..." she barely managed to get out.

"Jen," the two boys said with tears in their eyes, "It's true." The blonde said, while the darker one spoke at the same time, "They lied." Before they both stepped forward, wanting to touch the blonde woman who was standing in front of them. JJ wrestled herself free of Garcia before wrapping her arms around the two boys that she hadn't seen for almost six years.

"What are you? How did you? Who?" JJ was unable to finish any of the questions that were forming in her mind. "Oh god." She said again, "I can't believe you're here. Both of you. And you're all grown up... and I missed it. I'm so sorry I missed it." JJ began to sob as her mind processed what she was seeing, her little brothers were standing in front of her, but they weren't little boys anymore. They towered over her as she clutched them both tightly, making sure they didn't disappear.

"It's ok Jen. We know that it wasn't your fault." The dark haired boy said.

"Jack, how? How did you even get here?" she asked before looking back to her youngest brother "Jason, you're both so... you weren't supposed to grow so much without me there." She cried.

"We caught the bus. And it's been a long time Jen; we aren't the little brothers you used to chase around the garden anymore." This made JJ cry as well, of course her brothers were different, she had left two innocent young boys and before her stood two young men she knew little about.

"How about we go grab some food, and then we can have all of the serious conversations Morgan suggested when he noticed his blonde friend's distress. "Uh, yeah... ok let's do that." Emily agreed.

Once the group had reassembled the two boys looked to Emily, "Maybe you should explain." Jack suggested.

"Em... what?" JJ asked from her position in between her brothers.

"Well you see I... I always knew how much you missed them and you wanted a chance to talk to them. So last week, after I finished my exams I drove down to East Alleghany, I asked at the school office and I found out they were out on the sports fields. Anyway I watched them play for a while, they're just as athletic as you are Jay, and you should see it. I eventually got up the nerve to go talk to them when they finished practice and I told them who I was and why I was looking for them, I told them what happened when we were in senior year and they told me your parents version of the why you left. I know, I know that you wanted to explain it to them when you got a chance but I thought they were old enough now to understand and I wanted them to be here today, to see who you really were. Anyway we spent a long time talking and I asked them to come up here today, and well, here they are." She finished.

"I'm not mad Em, it's amazing, that you went there, that you guys came here. Can you forgive? For being gone for so long? For not telling you why? For not coming back?" She asked uncertainly looking between them.

"There is nothing to forgive Jen. Sure we had a lot of questions over the years, we asked mom and dad but as we got older we figured out they weren't telling us everything and they weren't going to so we stopped asking. When Emily came to talk to us, it started to make sense, why mom and dad were always hassling us about girlfriends and school and staying in East Alleghany, it's like they were afraid of something. Jen we don't care that you're gay, that you chose a life outside of East Alleghany, it actually helped us growing up, knowing there was a way out even if we never knew where you had ended up." Jason said, wrapping his arm around his sister, pulling her into his chest.

"When did you get so smart Jazz?" She asked.

"I got it from this blonde girl I; in between hitting me in the head with a soccer ball she was always telling me about how important school is." He grinned down at her, "I missed you big sister." He mumbled into her hair, trying to mask his tears.

"But, how did you get here then? What about," JJ swallowed the lump in her throat, "what about mom and dad."

"They think we're on a school field trip, the rest of our class is in DC, looking at museums... and colleges." Jack answered sheepishly.

"Well, I can't say I'm upset about you missing that, I'm so glad you guys are here."

"So are we Jen, there is nowhere else we should have been today." Jason said, "You are our sister and we love you, we always have, we missed you every day you weren't there, and sure there were days we were angry about you not being there, some days it was easier to believe you really had taken off and weren't coming back instead of hoping to see you walk through the front door like you'd never been gone, but we never stopped loving you Jen." He grabbed JJ under the chin as she looked down at the ground trying to hide her tears and turned her face up to look at him, "We love you, and nobody is going to keep us away from you again, you understand?" he finished wiping the tears from under her eyes. Before he kissed her forehead and wrapped his arms around her as Jack moved to join in after wiping his own tears away. Jack then let go of his siblings and moved next to the brunette who had given him back his sister, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and felt her stiffen briefly before relaxing into the embrace, the seventeen year old looked into the watery brown eyes of the women who he could see loved his sister unconditionally and had been there to support her when he and Jason could not, he looked into her eyes and found someone he would be forever grateful to, "Thank you Emily." He said before turning to watch his brother and sister as they continued to hold each other.

**Wow, so that is the end. I don't really know what else to say.**

**I hope you all enjoyed this story. And to everybody who asked I'm sorry but there is not likely to be sequel however I do have another story rattling around my head if anyone is interested, it will be them in the FBI. If I do it the updates might be less regular since I have to fit classes and studying in as well. So let me know if anybody is interested.**

**It was an honour to write for all of you, thank you.**


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